Corporate criminal law
The tax authorities or the public prosecutor are looking at your file, and the question is whether this is a correction or corporate tax fraud. The difference lies in the intent. In Belgium your company faces a fine, and you as a director also face imprisonment and personal liability if the company goes bankrupt.
When does a tax breach become a criminal offence?
A breach of the Belgian Income Tax Code 1992 (WIB 92) or of the VAT Code (W.BTW) becomes a criminal offence once it is committed with fraudulent intent or with intent to cause harm. Article 449 WIB 92 and article 73 W.BTW punish that breach with a level 2 prison sentence. Where it is committed as part of serious tax fraud, organised or not, the sentence rises to level 3.
In both cases the court may add a fine of 2,000 to 4,000,000 euro. That additional fine is an option and not an automatic consequence, because each text says the court may impose it. With mitigating circumstances, or for a punishable attempt, the range drops to 200 up to 1,600,000 euro (articles 457/1 and 457/2 WIB 92, articles 73quinquies/1 and 73nonies W.BTW). Tax forgery sits separately, in article 450 WIB 92 and article 73bis W.BTW, at level 3.
Those are the amounts in the statute. Article 1 of the Law of 5 March 1952 increases the criminal fines handed down by the Belgian courts by 2.5 additional tenths since 1 September 2026, so no final amount follows from the figures alone.
The new Criminal Code entered into force on 1 September 2026. Facts from before that date remain governed by the Criminal Code of 8 June 1867, unless the new law is more favourable (article 2 of the new Criminal Code).
What does the company risk and what does the director risk?
The company and the director can be convicted together. The rule that forced the court to choose between them was abolished with effect from 30 July 2018. Article 18, third paragraph, of the new Criminal Code states that the liability of the legal person does not rule out that of the director.
The company does have a rule of its own. Where it commits the offences of articles 449 to 453 WIB 92, or of articles 73, 73bis and 73quater W.BTW, it is punished as a principal offence only with the fine set out in those articles (article 457, paragraph 1, second sub-paragraph, WIB 92 and article 73quinquies, paragraph 1, second sub-paragraph, W.BTW). Article 456 WIB 92 falls outside that exception.
A director answers for their own conduct, because nobody is criminally liable except for their own acts (article 16 of the new Criminal Code). A delegation of powers shifts that liability only where the delegate held the required competence, authority and means, and the burden of proof lies with the person who delegated.
Our specialists measure that exposure in advance with a criminal liability audit, and then run the criminal defence of the company, or your fraud defence when you are under suspicion yourself.
Why serious tax fraud reaches the director after a bankruptcy
Serious tax fraud always counts as a manifestly gross fault in a bankruptcy. Article XX.225 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law allows current or former directors to be held personally liable for all or part of the debts, up to the shortfall, where a manifestly gross fault they committed contributed to the bankruptcy. The text says expressly that every form of serious tax fraud, organised or not, counts as such a fault.
The claim is excluded for small companies with an average turnover below 620,000 euro and a balance sheet total of at most 370,000 euro. Above that threshold the trustee in bankruptcy can pursue the director for the shortfall.
The cap on director liability does not catch this. Article 2:57 of the Companies and Associations Code caps that liability at between 125,000 euro and 12 million euro, but the cap covers article XX.227 of the Code of Economic Law and not article XX.225. It also falls away in cases of gross fault and fraudulent intent, and any advance indemnity granted by the company is deemed not to have been written (articles 2:57, paragraph 3, and 2:58 of the same code).
Where the bankruptcy is already open, read our page on conflicts after bankruptcy and liquidation.
How tax fraud connects to money laundering
A financial benefit obtained from a tax offence falls within the definition of money laundering. Article 502 of the new Criminal Code punishes, among other acts, acquiring, keeping and managing financial benefits derived from an offence, converting or transferring them to hide their unlawful origin, and concealing their nature, origin or ownership. The sentence is level 3.
The court may add a fine of 200 to 2,000,000 euro, or an amount that can run up to the value of the laundered assets. Your statutory auditor, your accountant and your tax adviser are also obliged entities under Belgian anti-money laundering legislation (article 5, paragraph 1, of the Law of 18 September 2017), and their duties stand apart from your tax file.
We wrote earlier about what money laundering is and where the danger lies, and we advise companies on anti-money laundering legislation.
What can you do before the investigation reaches you?
You can put your tax position right as long as no investigation is running. At federal level, tax regularisation has been open again since chapter 5 of the programme law of 18 July 2025, published on 29 July 2025. That law re-establishes the Contact Point for Regularisations at the Advance Tax Rulings Service.
That window closes once the investigation reaches you. The declaration has no effect where you were informed in writing beforehand of specific investigative acts under way by, among others, a Belgian judicial authority, a tax administration or a social inspection service (article 44). Regularisation is also excluded for amounts that can be linked to offences such as fraud by deception, theft, extortion, corruption and offences connected with a state of bankruptcy (article 49).
In the Flemish Region, a new regularisation of inheritance tax and registration duties has been running since 1 January 2026. The declaration goes to the Flemish Tax Service, by 31 December 2029 at the latest, and only for breaches committed before 1 July 2025.
Our specialists guide your tax regularisation and rectification, and our online calculation tool lets you simulate a regularisation anonymously.
Where the file already sits with the public prosecutor, a criminal settlement remains possible. For a tax offence it can only follow once the evaded taxes and the interest have been paid and the administration has agreed (article 216bis, paragraph 6, of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The court must then confirm the settlement. We handle the criminal settlement and the defence that runs alongside it.
Frequently asked questions
What sentence does tax fraud carry in Belgium?
Tax fraud carries a level 2 prison sentence, and serious tax fraud a level 3 sentence (article 449 WIB 92 and article 73 W.BTW). In both cases the court may add a fine of 2,000 to 4,000,000 euro. With mitigating circumstances, or for a punishable attempt, that range drops to 200 up to 1,600,000 euro. These are the amounts in the statute, on top of which the additional tenths of the Law of 5 March 1952 apply.
Can the company be prosecuted alongside its director?
Yes. The rule forcing a choice between the two was abolished on 30 July 2018, and article 18, third paragraph, of the new Criminal Code states that the liability of the legal person does not rule out that of the director. For the tax offences of articles 449 to 453 WIB 92 and articles 73, 73bis and 73quater W.BTW, the company is punished as a principal offence only with the fine set out in those articles.
Can the trustee pursue the director after a bankruptcy?
Yes, where a manifestly gross fault contributed to the bankruptcy, and every form of serious tax fraud counts as such a fault (article XX.225 of the Code of Economic Law). The director can then be held personally liable up to the shortfall. The claim is excluded for small companies with an average turnover below 620,000 euro and a balance sheet total of at most 370,000 euro.
Can I still regularise once an investigation has started?
No. The declaration has no effect where you were informed in writing beforehand of specific investigative acts under way by a judicial authority, a tax administration, a social security body, a social inspection service or the Federal Public Service Economy. Regularisation is also excluded for amounts that can be linked to offences such as fraud by deception, theft and offences connected with a state of bankruptcy.
When is a criminal settlement possible in a tax file?
Only once the evaded taxes and the interest have been paid and the administration has agreed (article 216bis, paragraph 6, of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The court must then confirm the settlement and reviews, among other things, whether the tax administration has been compensated and whether the settlement is proportionate. If you pay the sum, that payment counts before the civil court as an irrebuttable presumption of fault.