Belgium Exempts Profit Participations From French Property Investment Partnership
Belgium's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, has confirmed that dividends paid out by a French société civile immobilière (SCI, or property investment partnership) are not subject to Belgian income tax.
Under French law, certain civil companies are deemed to be separate from their shareholders (personne morale) contrary to Belgian law. That is particularly the case for the SCI.
Two major decisions of the Conseil d'Etat (France's Administrative Supreme Court) -- Conseil d'Etat, Apr. 4, 1997, no. 144,211 and Conseil d'Etat, Feb. 9, 2000, no. 178,389 -- have clarified that particular status. Profits arising from activities in France are taxable in France at the level of the transparent entity. However, the tax due by the entity is paid by each shareholder, based on his shareholding. The same applies to nonresident shareholders.
Belgium Exempts Dividends paid by French Property Investment Partnership, Tax Notes International, 28 February 2005
PDF belgium-exempts-profit-participations-from-french-property-investment-partnership.pdf