
The
publishing industry in Belgium represents a
stable economic sector, with revenues of approximately EUR 3 billion. For example, between 2008 -2014, the annual turnover registered by the
publishing companies operating in
Belgium ranged between EUR 2,6 billion to EUR 3,3 billion.
Register a Belgian company
In order to activate in the
publishing industry, the investors will need to
register the company following the prescribed procedures. The
registration process starts by choosing one of the
legal entities which are available under the local legislation. Following this decision, the investors will need to draw the
statutory documents of the company – the memorandum and articles of association. The procedure must always be completed in front of a
public notary in Belgium, which has to authenticate the respective documents.
Further on, the
company must be registered with the local authorities for
Value Added Tax (VAT) purposes and social security at the
Register of Legal Entities. The institution will also provide the
company’s identification number.
Daily and weekly publications are subject to a zero VAT rate, however, this does not mean that they are not subject to VAT registration in Belgium. The company registers for VAT purposes before it commences its VAT-taxable activities (which, in this particular case, can be zero-rates for publications). Our team can give you more details on the value-added tax depending on your specific business activities.
The publishing industry in Belgium
The publishing industry in Belgium is comprised on numerous activities and types of companies, but most of them provide books and e-books products on the local market. According to the applicable legislation, the VAT imposed on most of the books printed in Belgium is of only 6%, which is also available for newspapers and periodicals.
An important step referring to the
taxation of the products provided by the
publishing industry is that the local authorities announced a proposition for the
reduction of the VAT for e-books, to a rate of 6% from the current rate of 21%.