Legal obligations

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België - Belgique - Belgien - Belgium

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Any (non-profit) organisation in Belgium has a long list of legal obligations.

Failing to be compliant has financial and legal consequences. Strict timing is necessary.

(long) List of legal obligations

• Finances
  • keep a cash register, and bank account transactions (see CAMT.053)
    • WMBE does not use cash; all transactions are done via the bank account
    • maintain a bank account signatory
  • administer a (minimum) general ledger
  • have an up-to-date financial reporting available
    • generate the yearly balance sheet, the income and expense overview, and the yearly budget (financial statements)
    • maintain a detailed expense account with /B/ prefix in bank payment reference
    • maintain a detailed transport allowance per beneficiary
• Administration
  • mention all mandatory entries on outgoing documents
  • organise a (yearly) statutory meeting (GA) to approve the above documents, appoint board members (Q1-Q2)
  • Transfer those documents to the government (July; within 1 month after GA) to the Staatsblad and the KBO
  • maintain the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) register, and reconfirm the register every year even when there are no updates
  • maintain the (effective) membership register
  • establish a privacy register, declare a privacy policy
    • maintain the GDPR register
• Tax declarations:
  • perform a yearly tax declaration (Q2)
  • perform a yearly inheritance declaration (Q1)
  • pay taxes, as required (local, regional, federal)
  • produce tax certificates for gifts (possibly via other non-profit organisations) (Q2)
  • request and maintain the VAT register, if required:
    • VAT declaration, if required
    • foreign VAT transactions declaration, if required
• Organisation
  • organise regular board meetings
  • have an insurance for board members
  • have a member insurance
  • social administration: only when having employees

Contractual obligations to the Foundation

• budget request (Q4)
• receive and manage the grants (January-December)
• perform the (half)yearly reporting to the Foundation (July)
• end of year grant reporting (January)

External links

• Ministerie van Justitie
• Belgian tax authorities

See also

• VZW administratie
• VZW wetgeving