Shares

What are shares?

An investor who buys shares in a company becomes a shareholder, who is co-owner of the company. Shareholders should therefore be prepared to take risks. You can benefit from the company's profits when it’s doing well, but you could also lose money when it’s performing less well, since the value of its shares may decrease significantly. In the worst-case scenario, a company’s shares can even lose all their value, if it goes bankrupt for example. You can find more information in the « Shares » fact sheet.

Rebate of the professional withholding tax on dividends

As part of the summer 2017 budget agreement, Belgium’s federal government adopted various tax measures affecting investors. One of these measures aimed to support the real economy by stimulating direct investment in shares. Since 1 January 2018, investors have been able to get a rebate of the Belgian professional withholding tax on the initial tranche of dividends distributed by shares of Belgian and foreign companies.
Please note that this tax rebate is not automatic. Belgian professional withholding tax is still levied at source when the dividend is paid, but some or all it can be recovered later. Shareholders who want to claim the rebate must request it every year in their tax return.

Consult our information brochure (in French) which provides information to help you identify the dividends that qualify for the rebate and the steps you need to take to reclaim some or all of the professional withholding tax on your dividends.