Investment deductions: changes in 2025?

If you invest in new tangible or intangible fixed assets used for your business activities in Belgium, you can claim the investment deduction. In accordance with the law of May 12, 2024, and this for assets acquired or created from January 1, 2025, a new regulation on “investment deduction” applies. For “older assets”, the old regulations remain in force.

The following rules will continue to apply in 2025:

the scheme remains reserved for those who enjoy “profits” or “gains” in personal income tax and those who are subject to corporate income tax or GNI/venn.
The investment must be a newly acquired or constructed “tangible fixed asset” or qualify as a newly acquired “intangible fixed asset”. It must be used in Belgium for professional purposes. The asset must be depreciable over at least three years.
the existing exclusions remain (e.g., for assets that are only partially used professionally or whose use is ceded to a third party, unless they themselves can apply the investment deduction).
if the taxpayer does not have sufficient taxable basis to fully utilize the investment deduction, the excess remains transferable to subsequent taxable periods; the basic deduction is only transferable for one year;
an SME can only claim the ordinary deduction if the fixed assets are directly related to the current or future economic activity actually being performed.

Until now, the legislature confirmed annual percentages for investment deductions (i.e., the old regulation). From now on, a fixed statutory percentage per type of investment applies as follows: The thresholds for being considered an SME have been raised as of fiscal year 2024 (Art. 1:24, §§1-6, WVV) . For the last completed fiscal year, no more than one of the following criteria may be exceeded:

annual average headcount: 50 employees;
Annual sales excluding VAT: €11,250,000;
total assets: €6,000,000.

There will be three categories of investment deductions. The new flat rates do allow taxpayers to apply only to one type of deduction. Higher basic deduction for sole proprietors and SMEs: The rate of the “basic deduction” will be increased from 8% to 10%, for “digital fixed assets” you can obtain a 20% deduction.

The increased “green” thematic deduction of 30% (non-SME) or 40% (SME and natural person) applies to green investments such as:

investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy;
investments in carbon emission-free transportation;
environmentally friendly investments;
supporting digital investments.

The legislature did impose some restrictions on these thematic investment deductions:

No application possible by companies in difficulty or companies having to repay unduly received state aid.
Apply only to fixed assets for which no regional aid is requested
No application if the investment causes unreasonable harm to the environment
Attestation can only be granted if the investment appears on one of the lists.
Existing R&D and patent deduction becomes “technology deduction”

The technology deduction provides a 13.5% deduction when the taxpayer invests in “patents” and “fixed assets aimed at R&D of environmentally friendly products and future-oriented technologies. Exceptionally, the technology deduction for R&D investments can be applied on a staggered basis according to the depreciation of the asset. The deduction percentage is then 20.5%.