Belgium’s café proprietors have moved to get the State to repeal a decree setting the flat rates for VAT taxes in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Their organisation, la Fédération des cafetiers de Belgique (Fedcaf), has lodged an appeal with the Council of State against the Royal Decree of 15 May 2022, which sets the rates for the three years, Fedcaf said on Wednesday in a press release.
Fedcaf has been contesting since 2013 the method used to calculate the flat-rate VAT applied to beer sales in cafés. The tax authorities feel there is enough beer in a 50-litre barrel to serve 192 glasses, whereas FedCaf estimates that there is enough to serve 168 glasses on average, L’Echo newspaper recalled recently.
Fedcaf had already lodged an appeal, following which the 2020 VAT flat-rate regime for cafe owners was cancelled by the Council of State, but for a technical irregularity.
“The Council of State confirmed the technical irregularity and therefore cancelled the circulars without even considering the substance, namely the calculation methods,” the federation stressed on Wednesday.
According to Fedcaf, the new royal decree “addresses neither the technical criticisms nor the substantive criticisms we made of the circulars that it replaces.”
As a result, the federation “will do everything possible to force the tax administration and the Minister of Finance to restore fair tax bases, based on the reality of the incomes of cafe owners large and small,” it vowed.
