One in three businesses in Belgium subject to an in-depth audit by the tax authorities has been hit with a tax surcharge for an incorrect tax return.
Last year, the tax authorities audited some 129,000 SMEs and just over 3,000 large companies in Belgium, L’Echo and De Tijd reported on Thursday.
There are two types of audit. On the one hand, there are standard audits: based on a computerised selection, the tax authorities identify anything that appears unusual in a tax return. On the other hand, there are in-depth audits: an examination of the accounts and invoices, an analysis of bank accounts, and often an on-site visit.
Following these audits, one in three companies – more than 43,000 firms – were hit with a tax surcharge for filing an incorrect return.
Last year, around 1.3 million tax returns – out of more than 7 million – were also audited among private individuals.
The vast majority of these audits are, again, the result of computerised screening. This sometimes leads to a request for further information and a tax surcharge.
In nearly one in four cases, not everything had been declared correctly. Additionally, some 72,000 Belgians were subject to an in-depth audit.
In more than six out of ten cases, the tax authorities concluded that the tax return had been completed incorrectly.
