Investing via a Belgian Company (Vennootschap)

📅 Last updated: 8 May 2026
 ·  🏷 Topic: Company, BV, investing, corporate income tax
 ·  🇧🇪 For: Belgian self-employed with a company

For self-employed people with a BV/BVBA (private limited liability company), investing via the company is an alternative to investing privately. Whether it is advantageous depends on your tax burden and your distribution strategy.

Two layers of taxation

When investing via your company:

1. At company level: corporate income tax on capital gains at sale. Standard rate 25%; SME rate of 20% on the first €100,000 of taxable profit (subject to, among other conditions, a minimum director’s remuneration of €50,000 in 2026).
2. On distribution to private wealth: dividend tax of 15–30%.

Cumulative: can rise to 40–50% on realised capital gains, depending on the distribution strategy.

⚠️ Important nuance: the new 10% capital gains tax (since 2026) does NOT apply to companies — it is a measure within personal income tax (natural persons + non-profits). A company that sells securities falls under corporate income tax on the capital gain, not under the 10% CGT.

When is it advantageous?

1. For the “DRD deduction” (Definitively Taxed Income / Dividends Received Deduction):

A company that receives dividends from another company can, provided the DRD conditions are met, obtain a 100% deduction, resulting in effectively 0% corporate income tax on the dividend (raised from 95% to 100% via the 2017 summer agreement).

DRD conditions:
– Minimum 10% holding OR acquisition value ≥€2,500,000.
– Held for at least 1 year.
– Underlying company subject to a sufficient tax burden.
– ⚠️ From assessment year 2026: for large companies, holdings <10% above €2.5 million face an additional condition — the holding must be booked as a financial fixed asset (not as a cash investment).

For whom? Self-employed people with a company that invests in other companies (private equity, holdings).

2. Parking liquidity inside the company:

Money you have not yet paid out as salary or dividend can be invested via the company — deferral of the dividend tax.

Problem: you ultimately have to distribute it, and then the dividend tax applies. Interim returns inside the company can make sense vs. cash on the company account.

When is it NOT worthwhile?

For most self-employed people with small-to-medium wealth:

• Pension savings + VAPZ + IPT are more tax-advantageous than investing via a company.
• Private investment in a world index ETF + 10% capital gains tax is simpler and often cheaper net.

Company-level complications:
– Accounting reporting (valuation of securities, annual report).
– Director-related tax considerations.
– On winding up the business: liquidation bonus taxed.

Securities tax above €1m

For those with a securities account held via a company: the same securities tax applies when the average value is >€1 million.

⚠️ Rate change in process: the rate was 0.15% and was raised by the law of 18 December 2025 (Belgian Official Gazette, 30 December 2025) to 0.30%. The change was enacted by the law of 18 December 2025 (BS 30 December 2025) — separately, the Programme Law was voted in the plenary session of 29 April 2026. Confirm the current reference period and the exact applicable rate with the FPS Finance before any calculation.

See Securities tax above €1 million(NL) for the full explanation.

Practical decision

A typical rule of thumb:

• <€500k wealth, simple situation: invest privately via Bolero/MeDirect/etc. + maximise pension savings + VAPZ + IPT.
• €500k+ + holding structure or international: consult a tax adviser about a corporate structure.
• Family company for inheritance purposes: can make sense — ask a specialist.

Liquidation bonus on dissolution

On dissolution of a BV with accumulated reserves, the liquidation bonus is taxed as a dividend. This is a frequently forgotten cost. Two scenarios:

• Standard: 30% withholding tax on the full liquidation amount on top of the profit already taxed inside the company (note: VVPR-bis does not apply to liquidation dividends).
• With a liquidation reserve: if the company has previously placed reserves into a liquidation reserve (10% anticipatory levy at the time of allocation), the distribution at dissolution carries 0% withholding tax. Effective rate at dissolution: 10% anticipatory levy on the reserve (or ~9.1% on gross, since the 10% is paid out of the reserve itself). The often-quoted ~13.64% figure applies only to the alternative path of distributing the reserve as a dividend after a holding period (10% anticipatory + 5% WHT on distribution from AY 2026 — minimum holding period reduced from 5 to 3 years for new reserves) — these are two distinct paths.

Some self-employed people, alongside this dissolution strategy, also use VVPR-bis for regular dividend distributions during the company’s lifetime: registered shares of an SME give a reduced WHT rate of 15% from the third financial year (⚠️ the Programme Law of 18 July 2025 raises this to 18% for new distributions; the exact application date is set by Royal Decree, no earlier than June 2026). See VVPR-bis explained.

💡 Investing via your company is complex and rarely simpler than investing privately for most self-employed people. Book an hour with your accountant + tax adviser before taking this step.

🔗 See VAPZ explained(NL), IPT explained(NL), and Belgian investment taxes(NL).

Sources

1. FPS Finance — Corporate income tax
2. Wikifin — Investing via a company

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