L 272/6
(14)
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
20.10.2022
This accreditation of video games depends on cultural tests established by the Flemish Community and the Walloon Region for their own aid schemes and approved by the Commission (in 2018 for the Flemish Community (15), extended and amended in 2022 (16), and in 2020 for the Walloon Region (17)).
The test criteria are that the game must have cultural and artistic qualities, that the production activities and the parties concerned must have links with Flanders or the Walloon region, and that the game concerned must be innovative and creative.
To ensure this, Belgium has committed itself to ensuring that the Belgian federal State will conclude a cooperation agreement with the Flemish Community, the French–speaking Community and the German–speaking Community on the respective competences of these communities and of the federal State in relation to the tax shelter scheme.
Belgium notes that, for the duration of the tax shelter scheme, approval by the communities of video games in this context will be subject to the same criteria as those applied by the Flemish Community and the Walloon Region to their own aid schemes for video games.
2.4.
Form of aid, organisation of the system, aid intensity and cumulation
(15)
Under the current tax shelter system, a company (‘the investor’) can make a financial contribution, based on a framework contract, to the producer of a particular audiovisual work.
The investor receives compensation for this investment in the form of a ‘tax shelter certificate’ enabling the investor to benefit from tax relief through a reduction in its taxable profits.
The principle underpinning the taxation of company profits is that companies are liable for tax on their overall profits (Article 185 of the Belgian Income Tax Code).
The tax base is ascertained by deducting deductible expenses from profits (Article 6 of the Income Tax Code).
As a rule, companies can deduct the professional expenses they have incurred during the taxable period (Article 49 of the Income Tax Code).
As regards the value of investments, an amount may be deducted that depends on the value of the contribution (Article 61, second paragraph of the Income Tax Code).
Under the tax shelter scheme, the company liable for tax can immediately deduct 421 % of the amounts invested, a sum exceeding its financial contribution.
Depending on the nature of the notified project, this also applies to contributions to the production of a video game.
(16)
Under the scheme notified by Belgium, the tax value of the tax shelter certificate was set at 70 % of the production and operating costs incurred within the EEA or, if the production and operating costs incurred in Belgium account for less than 63 % of the total budget, of the production and operating costs incurred in Belgium.
The amount of aid for possible investment in a production is set at 48 % of the tax value of the tax shelter certificate.
This means that in a maximalist scenario in which at least 63 % of the total budget is spent in Belgium, aid intensity could reach 48 % of 70 %, amounting to 33,6 % of the budget for the production, but it would be lower in cases where production expenditure incurred in Belgium was lower than 63 % of the overall budget.
If such aid were provided in addition to other forms of production aid, aid intensity would be limited to 50 %.
(17)
Accordingly, in the initial version of the scheme the tax value of the tax shelter certificate was established on the basis of territorial spending.
The amount of investment (and therefore the amount of aid) depends on the percentage of territorial spending, which means that it varies according to the planned amount of expenditure in Belgium.
2.5.
Accreditation of beneficiaries
(18)
Under the tax shelter scheme, production companies benefiting from the scheme must be accredited in order to be able to take part.
The point of this, according to Belgium, is that accreditation can be withdrawn from any companies or individuals that fail to abide by the law (18).
(15) SA.49947, Belgium – Aid for videogames (VAF Gamefonds), https://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm? proc_code=3_SA_49947 (16) SA.101526, Belgium – VAF Gamefonds, recital (23), https://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm? proc_code=3_SA_101526 (17) SA.55046, Belgium – Soutien aux jeux vidéo culturels, artistiques et éducatifs (Wallimage), recital (14) https://ec.europa.eu/ competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=3_SA_55046; the Walloon Region includes the German–speaking region.
(18) Article 194 ter(1)(2) of the Income Tax Code states that the conditions for accreditation are laid down by royal decree.