Panama Papers yields Belgium 40 million euros in taxes and sanctions
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Nine years after the publication of the Panama Papers, the revelations have already delivered the Belgian treasury 39.6 million euros to taxes and sanctions. This is according to figures that Knack,, » Time and Le Soir have published Thursday.
Source: Belga
Today at 15:21
In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigation Journalists (ICIJ) published De Panama Papers based on 11.5 million leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents showed how offshore companies were used for tax avoidance and money laundering.
Thanks to publications in Belgian media and information on the ICIJ website, the special tax inspection (BBI) was able to identify hundreds of Belgian taxpayers and start 264 files. In total, the tax authorities have sent 141 million euros in additional tax claims on the basis of those files.
Thanks to other revelations from ICIJ (Pandora Papers of Luxleaks), the special tax inspection conducted investigations in 903 files, says Francis Adyns, spokesperson for the Federal Public Service Finance to Knack. « Based on this, 650 million euros due to taxes and tax increases have been claimed. Of this, 211 million euros have already been collected effectively. »
At least 1.2 billion euros in overdue taxes and fines were collected worldwide as a result of the Panama Papers. That figure is by definition an underestimation since not all authorities have shared information. The Netherlands won more than 28 million euros, Spain 162 million euros and France more than 192 million euros.
