Tax solidarity of the manager: exclusion of late payment interest
As a reminder, any individual who, in law or in fact, exercises directly or indirectly the effective management of a company, any other legal person or a group may be declared jointly and severally liable for the payment of taxes and penalties owed by these entities.
This joint liability, decided by the president of the judicial court, applies if the de facto or legal manager is not already required to pay social debts by another provision and if it is proven that he has committed fraudulent maneuvers or serious and repeated failures to fulfill its tax obligations, thus making it impossible to recover the sums due.
But what is the extent of this joint responsibility? A question that confronted a manager and the tax administration in a recent case…
In this case, a manager is declared jointly and severally liable for his company’s debts by the court. In this context, the tax administration turns to him to obtain payment of the company’s tax debts including, in addition, penalties, but also late payment interest.
-The manager refuses the extent of this tax solidarity: he points out that the tax solidarity to which he is required only concerns taxes and penalties owed by the company, with the exception of late payment interest.
This is confirmed by the judge who invites the administration to review its copy: a manager, who can only be declared jointly and severally liable for the payment of the sum corresponding to the taxes and penalties owed by the company, the legal person or the group, cannot therefore be ordered to pay late payment interest on this sum.
Belgium
