Thousands of entrepreneurs in Belgium are unable to start their businesses after last week’s cyberattack on the Ministry of Finance left new VAT numbers unable to be activated online, De Tijd reported on Saturday.
A VAT number is essential for entrepreneurs to issue invoices and make purchases.
While online portals such as MyMinfin and Tax-on-web are available again, several other digital services run by the Ministry of Finance remain offline.
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As a result, new companies and self-employed people still cannot activate a VAT number online.
To keep processing cases, the Ministry of Finance introduced an emergency procedure on Thursday allowing new applications to be submitted by email.
However, that manual system is slower than the usual online process.
Business counters run by Liantis and Xerius alone say they have thousands of cases on hold, most of them involving start-ups.
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Finance, 5,500 files are currently awaiting the activation, amendment or closure of a VAT number.
