Penalty for refusing to provide tax information sets new precedent

A Belgian taxpayer has been ordered by a Bruges court to pay a substantial penalty for refusing to provide information to the tax authorities – a first in the legal system since a new law came into force at the end of 2022.

The law enables tax authorities to ask a judge to impose penalty payments on a taxpayer if they refuse to provide information as part of a tax assessment procedure.

The taxpayer who refused to give inspectors from the Special Tax Inspectorate access to computer data relating to two accounting programmes - an e-commerce platform and webshop - was ordered to pay €2,500 each day the information is not handed over, with a ceiling of €50,000.