06/08/18

Belgian businesses sent 129 billion euros to tax havens in 2016

(The Brussels Times) -- Belgian businesses told the Tax department they sent 129 billion euros to tax havens in their 2017 tax forms (which cover 2016), La Libre Belgique reported on Saturday.

That’s a 57% increase compared to the 82 billion euros declared the year before.

Businesses that send 100,000 euros or more to tax havens have to inform the Tax department, with the exception of banks and Stock market companies. Authorities have drawn up a list of 30 tax havens, but it does not include Panama, Delaware, Singapore, Hong Kong or Luxemburg.

804 businesses said they sent money to a tax haven in 2016, making it an average of 161 million euros per business. The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is the most popular tax haven with Belgians (43.8 billion euros was sent there).

“The sum of 129 billion euros was declared voluntarily”, says Francis Adyns, the spokesman for the Finance SPF. He spoke to La Libre Belgique. “This is not fraud or profit, but financial transactions that should have been declared and were”.