Summer deadline extension for VAT compliance in Belgium

Summer deadline extensions for VAT compliance submissions apply every year in Belgium. Therefore, new deadlines may apply to the submission of VAT and ESL returns of the following periods: monthly reporting periods of June and July, as well as the second quarter 2023.

Last year, also the Q3 reporting period benefitted from an extended submission deadline, however, this is not the case for 2023. 

The official tax calendar with the correspondent extended deadlines for submission can be found here.

Although this is good news, you must be careful, because the extended deadlines only apply to the return's submission. However, if you want to claim a VAT refund or you need to make a VAT payment, you may not benefit from these deadline extensions.

In which cases the summer deadline extension does not apply?

• VAT payments: if you are in payment position, the VAT payment must arrive to the tax authorities bank account within the usual deadlines for payment. The official calendar for VAT payments can be found here.
• VAT refund claim: Also, if you want to claim the reimbursement of the VAT credit via the submission of your VAT return, you must submit it also within the usual deadlines for submission. In this case, the deadline for the submission of the VAT return is slightly extended concerning the monthly reporting periods of June and July 2023 to 24 July 2023 and 24 August 2023 respectively.

What are the summer deadlines in Belgium?

These are the summer due dates applicable to the VAT return submissions:

• June 2023
  10/08/2023
• July 2023
  08/09/2023
• Q2 2023
  10/08/2023

These are the new deadlines following the summer deadline extension for the ESL return (European Sales Listing return) submission:

• June 2023
  10/08/2023
• July 2023
  08/09/2023
• Q2 2023
  10/08/2023