Covid-19 Factsheet Belgium - Rubix
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Covid-19 Factsheet Belgium Copyright © 2020 Rubix. All rights reserved.
COVID-19 Factsheet
Belgium
Country Specifications
Elements Details
Country Belgium
Yes, Belgium was under lockdown. The country was
Whether the country is/was reopened in three phases, with the easing of restrictions
under Lockdown (LD)? beginning on May 4th, 2020, and the country being
completely reopened on June 8th, 2020.
Start date - March 18th, 2020
Period of LD
End date - June 8th, 2020
Page 1 of 16
Government Intervention
Elements Details
● Group activities are limited to 15 people,
including children
● People are allowed to have close contact with 15
people per week
● Social distancing rules must be enforced
● Hotels, restaurants, and cafes are open,
provided that they follow all health and safety
regulations—a maximum of 10 people at one
table and a distance of 1.5 metres between
tables
Restrictions Imposed in the ● Night clubs will remain closed until the end of
Country August
● All establishments (catering industry) and night
shops are allowed to stay open until 1 am
● Cultural activities with audiences will be limited
to 200 people
● Swimming pools, wellness centres, amusement
parks, and casinos can reopen
● Religious worship may resume with up to 200
people in attendance
(Brzozowski 2020)
Employment-related Measures:
Measures taken by social security authorities
● The deadline to pay social security contributions
for the first and second quarter of 2020 has been
extended to 15 December 2020
○ Granted to businesses which were forced
to close
● Businesses may request a payment plan for
their social contributions which are due for the
first and second quarter of 2020
○ The plan allows for payment to be spread
over a maximum of 24 months
Support extended to the ○ Businesses must file a specific
Industries at risk by application form with evidence of the
Government financial impact of the crisis on their
business
● Businesses may invoke temporary
unemployment as a result of “force majeure”
○ Employees will benefit from a temporary
increase of their allowance in the event
of temporary unemployment
Page 2 of 16
Measures for the self-employed
● Self-employed individuals may also benefit from
support regarding their social security
contributions in the form of a reduction, delay, or
exemption of payment
● If a self-employed individual has been obliged to
interrupt or stop their activity due to the
pandemic, they can apply for a replacement
income
Start-ups
● Employees will benefit from a temporary
increase of their allowance in the event of
temporary unemployment
● The extension for the deadline to pay social
security contribution applies
Other
● Full-time employees are entitled to 70% of the
salary regardless of their family situation
Flemish Government Measures
● The assessment notices regarding immovable
withholding taxes will be sent in September 2020
Support extended to the
● The government has provided a budget for
Industries at risk by
guarantees for bridging loans which businesses
Government (continued)
are forced to contract in order to pay their bills
● The assessment of car taxes will be postponed
to August
● EUR 100 million in crisis guarantees for
companies will be provided
● EUR 4,000 payment to companies who have
been forced to close
● If small businesses suffer a loss of turnover of at
least 60%, they can apply for a tax-free premium
to compensate for their loss of business
● The Flemish Tax Authority has granted a
general extension for the deadlines for
inheritance and registration tax purposes
● EUR 250 million support plan for start-ups and
SMEs in the form of subordinated loans will be
provided by the Flemish government
Page 3 of 16Walloon Government Measures
● Taxpayers will benefit from a suspension of the
tax payment deadlines during the pandemic
● Deadlines for claims against assessment will be
frozen
● Negative administration decisions will be frozen
● Moderation of current recovery procedures and
payment plans will be facilitated
● Administrative fines for the mileage tax will be
moderated
● Small businesses in certain sectors may ask for
a compensation of EUR 5,000 if they had been
forced to close
● Compensation of EUR 2,500 for self-employed
individuals and companies that had to interrupt
their activity substantially
Brussels Government Measures
● A one-off premium for some sectors—Horeca
(hotels, restaurants, and cafes), travel, retail,
etc—which were affected by the lockdown
● A premium for small businesses whose activities
have been considerably reduced due to the
pandemic
Support extended to the ● A postponement of the payment deadline for
Industries at risk by road taxes and immovable withholding tax
Government (continued) ● Government guarantees on bank loans for EUR
20 million
Customs Measures
Customs clearance
● Economic operators are allowed to temporarily
submit paper-based certificates and licenses
digitally
● Economic operators can only obtain an E705
form online for the registration of motor vehicles
purchased abroad via MyMinfin
Customs authorisations
● All authorisations holders—inward processing,
customs warehousing, temporary storage
facilities, or approved/designation places—are
allowed
● They must apply by email to the issuing customs
authorities to extend their authorisation with
other storage facilities
● The customs authorities shall, under certain
conditions, grant a temporary approved exporter
authorisation without any prior customs audit
Page 4 of 16Excise
● The excise authorities allow pharmacists to
manufacture disinfectants provided they
maintain records
● The excise authorities allow all authorised
warehouse keepers to produce denatured ethyl
alcohol—to ensure the production of biocidal
products or disinfectants for the medical sector
● The excise authorities provide guidance to
manufacturers of various types of sanitisers to
benefit from any excise duty exemption
Other
● Under certain conditions, donations of personal
protective equipment (PPE) to the medical
sector are eligible for import duty relief
● In Belgium, the Federal Public Service (FPS)
Economy is the competent authority to grant
export authorisations
Tax Relief Measures
Income Taxes
● For companies ending their financial year
between 31 December 2019 and 31 January
Support extended to the 2020, the due date for filing corporate tax returns
Industries at risk by is extended to 24 September 2020
Government (continued)
VAT
● In case VAT taxable activities have been
terminated after 30 April 2020, the sales listing
must be submitted within three months after the
termination of these activities
● The payment deadline for filing VAT returns and
intra-community statements in April was
extended to 20 July 2020
Support with Tax Debts
● Businesses may ask for support for tax
authorities regarding their tax debts in the form
of a payment plan, an exemption from late
payment interest, or a waiver of fines for
non-payment
● The support mentioned above can be requested
on the following tax debts:
○ Corporate Income Tax and Income Tax
on Legal Entities
○ Value Added Tax
○ Wage Withholding Tax
○ Personal Income Tax
Page 5 of 16● Businesses are only eligible for this support if
they have been adversely affected by the
pandemic and if they are able to substantiate
that with evidence—eg. A drop in turnover, a
drop in orders or reservations, etc.
● Businesses are not eligible for support if they are
already facing structural payment difficulties
Federal Tax Authority Measures
● Companies will benefit from an increased
bonification for prepayments made during Q3
(6.75%) and Q4 (5.25%) for financial years
closing between 30 September 2020 and 31
January 2021 provided there is no…
○ Dividend distribution
○ Capital reduction or repurchase of shares
between 12 March and the end of the
financial year
○ Variable remuneration that has been paid
between 12 March and the end of the
taxable period
● Write-downs on commercial receivables held on
companies that show a delay in payment of the
receivables are exempted
Support extended to the
Industries at risk by Tax Relief for Donations
Government (continued) ● Temporary tax reliefs are provided with respect
to qualifying donations including
○ Medical aid devices and their auxiliary
parts
○ Protective gear and clothing for care
providers and patients
● Qualifying beneficiaries include:
○ Governmental institutions and other
public bodies that have a role in the
redistribution of the goods
○ Hospitals and care institutions providing
VAT-exempt health care services,
institutions providing VAT exempt care
services to the elderly, children or
disabled, as well as institutions providing
school and university education
○ Humanitarian charitable institutions
○ Institutions approved by the Customs
and Excise Authorities to import certain
goods in Belgium with exemption from
VAT and customs duty
● The tax reliefs apply to donations made in the
period between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2020
● Businesses are not required to pay VAT on the
qualifying donations
Page 6 of 16● For personal income tax purposes, a temporary
tax credit is available for the in-kind donation of
medical products to hospitals with a value of at
least Euro 40.
● A temporary exemption is granted for 120 hours
of overtime pay in critical sectors
● A temporary extension of certain due dates and
increase of exempt amounts is granted
regarding the tax shelter for audiovisual works
and podium works
● The due date for paying the company
contribution is postponed from 30 June 2020 to
31 October 2020.
● An extension is granted of the due date of the
payment of annual insurance tax
● Restaurant and catering services are subject to
the reduced VAT rate of 6% in the period
Support extended to the between 8 June 2020 and 31 December 2020
Industries at risk by (except for alcoholic drinks)
Government (continued) ● Heavily impacted sectors, which had to resort to
temporary unemployment, will benefit from a
partial exemption of payment of wage
withholding tax for 3 months
● Employers can grant a 100% deductible and
tax-free consumption voucher of 300 EUR to
their employees which they can use for the
purchase of goods and services in heavily
impacted sectors such as the HoReCa, the
culture sector, etc.
Cross-border Workers taxation
● Belgium has concluded mutual agreements with
the Netherlands and Germany to prevent
cross-border workers from being adversely
affected by the coronavirus
(Lauwers 2020) (Warson 2020)
Page 7 of 16Elements Details
European Union Level Changes
● The ECB decided to provide monetary policy
support through:
○ Additional asset purchases of EUR 120
billion until the end of 2020 under the
existing program (APP)
○ Temporary additional auctions of the full
allotment, fixed-rate temporary liquidity
facility at the deposit facility rate—
targeted to longer-term refinancing
operations between June 2020 to June
2021, with interest rates as low as 50 bp
● The ECB introduced a new liquidity facility
(PELTRO) which consists of a series of
non-targeted Pandemic Emergency
Longer-Term Refinancing Operations carried out
with an interest rate 25bp below the average
MRO rate
○ Commenced in May, and is expected to
mature between July and September
2021
● The ECB introduced an additional EUR 750
billion asset purchase program of private and
public sector securities
Change in Monetary Policy ● The size of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase
Program (PEPP) was expanded to EUR 1.35
trillion
● The duration of the PEPP has been extended to
at least June 2021
● The range of eligible assets under the Corporate
Sector Purchase Program (CSPP) has been
expanded
● The ECB announced a broad package of
collateral easing measures for Eurosystem credit
operations, including:
○ A permanent collateral haircut reduction
of 20% for non-marketable assets
○ Temporary measures for the duration of
the PEPP
○ An expansion of the scope of additional
credit claims framework so that it
includes public sector-guaranteed loans
to SMEs, self-employed individuals, and
households
Page 8 of 16● The ECB will grandfather until September 2021
the eligibility of marketable assets used as
collateral in Eurosystem credit operations falling
below current minimum credit quality
requirements of “BBB-”
○ Assets that fall below these minimum
credit quality requirements will be subject
to haircuts based on their actual ranking
● The ECB set up the Eurosystem repo facility for
central banks (EUREP) to provide precautionary
euro repo lines to central banks outside the euro
area
● The ECB Banking Supervision allowed
significant institutions to operate temporarily
below the Pillar 2 Guidance (P2G), the capital
conservation buffer, and the liquidity coverage
ratio (LCR)
● The ECB Banking Supervision decided to
exercise flexibility in the classification
requirements and expectations on loss
provisioning for non-performing loans (NPLs)
that are covered by public guarantees
● The ECB Banking Supervision has
recommended banks to avoid pro-cyclical
assumptions for the determination of loss
Change in Monetary Policy
provisions and opt for the IFRS9 transitional
(continued)
rules
● The ECB Banking Supervision asked banks to
not pay dividends for the financial years 2019
and 2020 or buy back shares during the
pandemic
● The European Parliament and the European
Council adopted the “banking package” which
provides targeted legislative changes to the
capital requirements regulation, including greater
flexibility in the application of the EU”s
accounting and prudential rules
Measures taken by Belgian Authorities
● Reducing the counter-cyclical bank capital buffer
to 0%
● A ban on short-selling stocks between March
18 to May 18
● Postponement of debt repayment due to banks
and insurers by affected households and
companies to September 30, 2020
(IMF Editors 2020)
Page 9 of 16The government has created a package of fiscal
measures to address the crisis with an estimated
budget impact of EUR 51.9 billion (11.8% of GDP) of
bank loan guarantees. The key measures include:
● Boosting health expenditure and hospital funding
● Increasing support for those in temporary
unemployment and self-employed individuals
● Liquidity support through postponements of
social security and tax payments for companies
and self-employed
● Additional support to affected firms and
households provided by subnational
governments
● A reinsurance scheme for short-term trade credit
Change in Fiscal Policy
insurance
● Tax measures allowing firms to recoup losses
and rebuild equity more quickly
Other
● Other measures have been employed to:
○ Extend existing support schemes until
the end of 2020
○ Provide additional support to hard-hit
sectors and vulnerable groups
○ Extend and modify the bank guarantee
scheme to improve access for SMEs
(IMF Editors 2020)
Page 10 of 16Elements Details
Health and Safety Measures:
● Many humanitarian volunteer initiatives—from
NGOs like Médecins sans Frontiéres, Médecins
du Monde, Croix Rouge, etc—were set up for
marginal populations like homeless people,
foreign populations, and migrants
● In Brussels, a telephone line was set up by the
GPs’ organisation to direct sick people to the
local GP circles for a doctor
● Phone or video consultations are allowed
● The National Institute for Health and Disability
Insurance has been remunerated and
reimbursed for health care professionals like
physicians, psychologists, dentists, etc.
● Schools provided childcare for the children of
parents who work in healthcare and public safety
domains
● Employers must conduct mandatory temperature
checks for all employees, visitors, and agency
Measures taken by the
workers
Government to mitigate Impact
● Aid for COVID-19 and other antiviral relevant
of COVID-19
research and development—including vaccines,
medicinal products and treatments, medical
devices and more
● Investment aid for testing and upscaling
infrastructures required to develop COVID-19
related medicinal products. This covers:
○ Direct grants
○ Repayable advances
○ Tax advantages covering up to 75% of
the eligible costs
● Aid for the production of COVID-19 relevant
products
Trade Measures:
● Restriction on the sale of medical products and
personal protective equipment
(WHO 2020) (Koster 2020) (COVID-19 Temporary
Trade Measures 2020) (Legein 2020)
Page 11 of 16Industries Impacted
Elements Details
Essential and Reopened Services:
● Bars, cafes, and restaurants (on a limited
scale)
● Swimming pools and wellness centres
● Theatres, cinemas, event halls, concert halls,
amusement parks, and casinos
● Schools, colleges, and other educational
institutions
● Museums and zoos (partially)
● Hotels
● Cultural and sporting activities
● Domestic travel and tourism
● Supermarkets and pharmacies
● Bookstores
● Hair salons and barbershops
● Transportation industry
● Textile industry
Industries Allowed to Operate
E-commerce:
● Revenue is expected to show an annual
growth rate of 5.7%
● Revenue in food and personal care has
increased by 14%
● User penetration will be 64.8% in 2020
● Revenue is expected to reach USD 5,936
million in 2020
Other:
● Food production
● Healthcare
● Pharmaceutical industry
● Life and health insurance
(Hope 2020) (Birnbaum 2020) (Statista 2020)
Tourism Industry:
● Revenue losses within the tourism industry will
be more than EUR 1 billion per month in
Flanders, Belgium
● Brussels has lost around EUR 0.4 billion in
revenue
Industries Severely Affected ● Around 95% of the tourism establishments in
the country were forced to close due to the
lockdown, suffering significant revenue losses
● It is estimated that the revenue losses within
the tourism value chain in Belgium will be
more than EUR 2 billion per month
Page 12 of 16Construction Industry:
● The construction industry is expected to
contract by 15% in 2020
● Civil and large building projects have slowed
down by more than 50%
● Social distancing regulations have resulted in
a decreased capacity and workforce
Hospitality Industry
● Owners of hospitality businesses expect 45%
fewer clients upon their reopening
● Annual turnover is expected to be halved by
Industries Severely Affected
the end of the summer
(continued)
● Several cafés, restaurants, and hotels are
filing for bankruptcy
● Occupancy rates have decreased drastically
Other:
● Sports and leisure facilities
● Aviation
● Retail
● Automotive industry
● Mining industry
(Kamer 2020) (Stacey 2020) (Lenoir 2020)
Page 13 of 16Works Cited
Birnbaum, Michael. “What Counts as 'Essential' during a Coronavirus Lockdown? Fries in
Belgium, Wine in France.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Mar. 2020,
www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-lockdown-essential/2020/03/18/f17d4
b08-691f-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html.
Brzozowski, Alexandra. “BRUSSELS - Phase 4 of Deconfinement.” Www.euractiv.com, 25 June
2020, www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/brussels-phase-4-of-deconfinement/.
“COVID-19 Temporary Trade Measures.” Market Access Map, 30 June 2020,
www.macmap.org/covid19.
Hope, Alan. “Belgian Government Extends List of Essential Industries.” The Brussels Times, 4
Apr. 2020,
www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/business/104595/government-extends-list-of-essential-in
dustries-baby-supplies-temp-sector/.
IMF Editors. “Policy Responses to COVID19: Belgium.” IMF, 25 June 2020,
www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#B.
IMF Editors. “Policy Responses to COVID19: Euro Area.” IMF, 25 June 2020,
www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#EuroArea.
Kamer, Lars. “Belgium: Coronavirus Tourism Impact Brussels, Flanders.” Statista, 2 June 2020,
www.statista.com/statistics/1107555/revenue-loss-of-tourism-in-brussels-and-flanders-belgi
um-due-to-coronavirus/.
Koster, Pieter De, et al. “COVID-19: Guidance for Employers in Belgium.” Bird & Bird, Apr.
2020,
www.twobirds.com/en/news/articles/2020/belgium/covid-19-guidance-for-employers-in-bel
gium.
Page 14 of 16Lauwers, Wouter. “Belgium:Government and Institution Measures in Response to COVID-19.”
KPMG, KPMG, 17 June 2020,
home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/04/belgium-government-and-institution-measures-in
-response-to-covid.html.
Legein, Laurent, et al. “Belgium's Response to Mitigate the Effects of COVID-19.” Belgium's
Response to Mitigate the Effects of COVID-19 | Cleary Gottlieb, 14 May 2020,
www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/publication-listing/belgiums-response-to-mitiga
te-the-effects-of-covid19.
Lenoir, Francois. “Danger, No Work in Progress for Some Benelux Builders in Lockdown.”
Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 21 Apr. 2020,
in.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-belgium-luxembourg/danger-no-work-in-progr
ess-for-some-benelux-builders-in-lockdown-idINKCN2231MD.
Stacey, Jane. “Tourism Policy Responses to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).” OECD, 2 June 2020,
www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/tourism-policy-responses-to-the-coronavirus-c
ovid-19-6466aa20/.
Statista. “ECommerce - Belgium: Statista Market Forecast.” Statista, 30 June 2020,
www.statista.com/outlook/243/129/ecommerce/belgium#market-globalRevenue.
Warson, Eric. “Belgium: Tax Developments in Response to COVID-19.” KPMG, KPMG, 22 Apr.
2020,
home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/04/belgium-tax-developments-in-response-to-covid-
19.html.
WHO. “Policy Responses for Belgium.” COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor, 30 June
Page 15 of 162020,
www.covid19healthsystem.org/countries/belgium/livinghit.aspx?Section=3.3%2BMaintaini
ng%2Bessential%2Bservices&Type=Section.
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