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Julie Permeke

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Julie Permeke is a senior associate in the Tax Practice Group of the Brussels office. She joined Baker McKenzie in 2016 after several years of experience as a tax lawyer in other well reputed Benelux law firms. She also works as a voluntary researcher in the tax department of the Free University of Brussels (VUB). Julie has been listed as a recommended tax lawyer in Legal 500.

With the rise of digital platforms and the possibilities internet provides for businesses, more and more sellers are able to offer goods and services via these platforms and the internet. In this context, it has become difficult for tax authorities to trace the flow of goods and services as well as to identify sellers to ensure that these goods and services are taxed in accordance with EU tax principles.

In anticipation of the EU DAC 7 initiative, Belgium has recently introduced “DAC 7 light” reporting obligations for digital platform operators in the sharing and gig economy. The goal is to render the income realized by service providers through these platforms more transparent and to prevent avoidance or fraud from a tax and social security perspective.

A new and extended version of the Securities Account tax was introduced in Belgium by the Law of 17 February 2021 that entered into force on 26 February 2021. The new tax takes the form of an annual tax of 0.15% on securities accounts that exceed EUR 1 million in average value (this includes financial instruments as well as the cash balance). The tax will first be due for the reference period starting on 26 February 2021 and ending on 30 September 2021.