Belgium tax authorities are experiencing difficulties with their IT infrastructure. During the first week of August, 2026, more than 190,000 businesses received unjustified notices concerning late filing or late payment of VAT returns.
Late VAT payment
Following the latest updates from the Federal Finance Public Service, due to the technical difficulties of the tax authorities’ IT infrastructure, more than 190,000 businesses have received faulty payment notices(for unpaid VAT) concerning their periodic VAT returns.
Based on the historical overview, this isn’t the first time that, as a consequence of the faulty IT infrastructure, tax authorities have sent erroneous payment notices to businesses. The latest case concerned sending late payment notices for unpaid income tax returns.
Repercussions
Submission of the VAT returns for the last tax period has been successfully processed by the tax authorities’ IT systems. However, the processing of the payments and related reconciliation is proving problematic. As the notification shows, some payments haven’t been correctly allocated to the outstanding debts or to the balance of the VAT account.
Many accounting firms, as well as tax compliance service providers, both domestically and abroad, are receiving numerous calls from “unhappy clients”.
The tax authorities have resolved the issue and have shared the update, stating that those who have paid on time will not receive a fine. The unjustified notices shall be automatically erased.