Belgian annual tax on Luxembourg investment funds: the Court of Cassation confirms its position

On 4 September 2026, the Belgian Supreme Court ruled on a cassation appeal brought by the Belgian State against a judgment of the Brussels Court of Appeal concerning the Belgian annual tax on collective investment undertakings levied on Luxembourg funds marketed in Belgium.

The Brussels Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of the Luxembourg fund, holding that the Belgium–Luxembourg double tax treaty prevented Belgium from levying the tax. The Belgian State challenged that judgment before the Supreme Court.

The central issue was the material scope of Article 2 of the treaty.

The Supreme Court held that the list of Belgian taxes covered by the treaty is exhaustive and that the annual tax on collective investment undertakings is neither one of the taxes expressly listed nor an identical or substantially similar tax.

Accordingly, the tax falls outside the scope of the treaty, meaning that the treaty does not prevent Belgium from levying it on the Luxembourg fund concerned.

The judgment is an important development in a long-running dispute over the Belgian taxation of Luxembourg investment funds and provides further guidance on the interpretation of the taxes covered by the Belgium–Luxembourg treaty.

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