Millions owed

 IT has been reported that Belgium’s special inspectorate for taxation (l’Inspection spéciale des impôts) has demanded tens of millions of euros from the Belgian media. The demands stem from alleged unpaid gambling taxes, according to Francis Adyns, a spokesman from the country’s finance ministry.

Combined with a five which equates to five times the amount, the taxes go back to 2009 and 2010. The payment is expected to amount to tens of millions of euros.

The country’s large media groups will have to pay tax on television gambling games, which have been dubbed as “media games.”

The lowtax.net reports: “Following close inspection of the various programmes, the inspectorate concluded that these games, based on chance (lottery), fall within the scope of Belgian law on gambling. This legislation provides for a 15% rate of tax to be imposed on gambling games in Flanders and Brussels, and for a rate of 11% to be levied in Wallonia.”