Belgian Transfer Pricing Forms: Amended as from January 2025

Background

By Royal Decrees of 28 October 2016, Belgium introduced the three-tier mandatory transfer pricing reporting structure composed of three forms:

1. a Master File form (275.MF);
2. a Local File form (275.LF); and
3. a Country-by-country report (275.CBC) or notification form (275.CBC.NOT).

As a reminder, Belgian entities/branches of multinational groups must file Master File and Local File forms when one of the following thresholds is exceeded (during the previous financial year):

• Total operating and financial revenues of EUR 50 million (excluding non-recurring items);
• Balance sheet total of EUR 1 billion; or
• Average annual number of employees of 100 in full-time equivalents.

Additionally, Belgian entities/branches of multinational groups with a consolidated gross revenue of at least EUR 750 million must file Country-by-country report or notification form.

In January 2022, the OECD has published a new version of its guidelines on "hard to value intangibles" and transfer pricing of financial transactions. This new publication and the tax authorities' experience led to the following amendments.

Master File form (275.MF)

The Master File now requires more explanations as to various items:

• Description of business activities: a more detailed analysis of the value chain and functional analysis of the group, going beyond the OECD guidelines (Box II);
• Intangible assets: a comprehensive description of DEMPE functions, along with a detailed list of intangible assets, specifying the legal owner and the entities performing DEMPE functions (Box III); and
• Financial transactions: the taxpayer must provide more details about the financial transactions (e.g. commercial or financial relationships, determining market conditions for treasury activities, and analyzing financial guarantees and in-house (re)insurance) (Box IV).

Local File form (275.LF)

The Local File form has been slightly amended.

Part B now requires taxpayers with cross-border intercompany transactions exceeding EUR 1 million to report transaction volumes per country, rather than aggregately.

In box B10, a tick-the-box requirement has been added for taxpayers with available transfer pricing methodologies, framework agreements, model contracts, or transfer pricing studies, which must now be included as readable PDFs.

Additional information must also be provided, including the tax identification numbers of relevant entities (A6 for main competitors and B11 for foreign permanent establishments of the Belgian entity) and a list of countries involved in cost contribution agreements, APAs, rulings, and in-house (re)insurance policies.

Country-by-Country notification form (275.CBC.NOT)

The form should now indicate whether it is a first notification, an amendment to a previous notification, or a termination of the notification form. The notification form is also required in case of termination of the notification obligation.

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In case of questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your regular contact within the Fieldfisher Belgium tax team.