On 19 January 2019, the Belgium - Japan Income Tax Treaty will enter into force. The treaty will apply, in respect of withholding taxes, as from 1 January 2020 and, in respect of income taxes, to taxable periods starting as from 1 January 2020. The new treaty will replace the Belgium - Japan Income Tax Treaty of 1968, as amended by the 1988 and 2010 protocols.

On January 10, 2019, Advocate General (AG) Kokott of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered Opinions in the Memira (C-607/17) and in the Holmen (C-608/17) cases. Both cases concerned the compatibility with EU law of the Swedish rules on the deductibility of losses from foreign subsidiaries, and the extent to which the ‘Marks & Spencer exception’ applies, i.e. losses are considered final. The AG concluded that in the cases under review, losses cannot be considered as final.