Belgian Court Rules VAT Adjustment Required After Exempt Lease Following Business Transfer

A garden center owner transferred the business but kept the property and leased it to the buyer under a VAT-exempt lease.
Belgian tax authorities required a VAT adjustment on the building because the exemption meant the property was later used in a way that did not allow VAT deduction.
The transferor argued no adjustment was needed since the buyer continued taxable use of the property after the transfer.
The Court sided with the tax authorities, holding that the exempt lease was a new transaction separate from the business transfer, triggering repayment of previously deducted VAT for the remaining adjustment period.
The ruling settles a long-running Belgian VAT dispute, though other structuring options may still exist when property is excluded from a business transfer.

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.