If a business fails to pay its social security contributions on time, it will be summoned before the Labour Court.
One third of all companies which fail have been summoned by the Social Security(*)
So a Social Security summon is a very bad sign.
(*) Source: Companyweb: results based on our own study into causes of bankruptcies.
The CBE does not report any VAT activity linked to this company number.
A business is exempt from charging VAT if it:
- performs only exempted activities (for example socio-cultural, financial and medical activities), or
- is registered under the VAT exemption scheme for small businesses.
In both these cases, the business can not charge VAT to its customers.
The deletion of a VAT number can be requested by:
1) the taxpayer himself in case of:
a) complete discontinuation of the business
b) stopping all activities subject to VAT within the business
2) the government when there is no longer any economic activity within the business.
In other words, the deletion of a VAT number can be an important negative indicator concerning the continuity of the business and requires additional attention.
The FPS Finance states the following:
A business established in Belgium must register for VAT if it is subject to VAT.
A Belgian (or non-Belgian) business is liable for VAT if its activity is the supply of goods or services as set out in the Belgian VAT Code.
If the business’s only activities are exempt from VAT (e.g.
certain socio-cultural activities, financial transactions, transactions in the medical sector), and the business therefore does not have a right of deduction, then the business is not required to register.
It does not have to charge VAT to its customers (
Article 44 of the Belgian VAT Code).
However, if this type of business is required to account for Belgian VAT on intra-Community acquisitions of goods or on intra-Community supplies of services, it is required to register for VAT.
For more information regarding "Value Added Tax", please refer to
Fisconet plus.
In other words, this company has already not posted any annual accounts for two consecutive financial years.
This is a really bad sign!
Such companies score -4 at most, or even worse if there are other bad signs involved.
It is highly inadvisable to do business with these companies, because they're either not really trading any more, which is why they're not posting any accounts, or they're deliberately refusing to meet their reporting obligations.
