Investments in France? Learn about the impact of the new double taxation convention between Belgium and France!

Impact on French interest payments

If a natural person or company domiciled in Belgium receives interest payments from France, this income must always be taxed in the country where the recipient is domiciled. However, under the old convention, the country of origin also had the right to levy withholding tax up to a maximum of 15%. This capped withholding tax has been removed from the new double taxation convention – under the new convention, interest from France paid to a Belgian resident will only be taxed in Belgium.

Impact on French dividends

If you or your company are domiciled in Belgium and receive dividends from France, the convention states that they must be taxed in Belgium and France can apply a capped withholding tax. Under the new convention, the withholding tax that may be applied in France is reduced from 15% to 12.8%.

Belgian natural persons

In practice, this reduction in the withholding tax will not affect private individuals, who have already been benefiting from the lower rate since the reduction of the French domestic tariff to 12.8% in 2018.

What will have a significant impact is the abolition of the flat-rate foreign tax on French dividends. We explained in an earlier article that under the old convention, Belgium was required to offset the French withholding tax. As a result, a resident of Belgium would end up with a greater net residue from a French dividend. However, under the new convention, Belgium is no longer required to make this offset, and the French dividends will once again be taxed more heavily.

Companies in Belgium

Companies in Belgium will not only benefit from the reduction in tariff in the new convention (from 15% to 12.8%); they will also enjoy complete exemption from French withholding tax, if they able to are meet certain criteria. Namely, to benefit from this exemption, the Belgian company must have, or plan to have, at least 10% participation in the capital of the French company for a period of 365 days.

The French dividends issued to the Belgian company are subject to corporate tax in Belgium. If the criteria for the dividend-received deduction are met, the dividends received will be exempt from corporate tax in Belgium. If, on the other hand, the dividend-received deduction does not apply to the Belgian company, then the French withholding tax can be offset against the Belgian corporate tax.

There has been some discussion about dividends received by a Belgian company from a French SCI: should they be taken into account for the dividend-received deduction in Belgium, or not? The new convention explicitly resolves this question: these dividends should indeed be taken into account if the Belgian company is itself taxed on the SCI’s (société civile immobilière) operating results.

Impact for capital gains on shares

Please see our earlier article for more details about taxation on sociétés à prépondérance immobilière (assets > 50% of the value of the asset). We will just note here that capital gains tax does not apply if the real estate company is listed in a regulated EEA stock exchange.

For Belgians relocating to France or French relocating to Belgium who directly or indirectly hold a significant share in a company based in their original country of residence (a right to at least 25% of the company’s profits), the new double taxation convention states that the capital gain may still be taxed in the original country, providing the following conditions are met:

• The person or entity was domiciled in the country of origin for at least six years during the ten-year period prior to the relocation;
• The person or entity held a share of at least 25% in the company at all times during the five years prior to the relocation;
• The person or entity already held their share at the time of the relocation;
• The sale takes place within seven years following the relocation.

It is clear that the new double taxation convention introduces some important changes for Belgians with investments in France. If you have any questions about this issue, please do get in touch with our experts.