In a judgement of 5 December 2023, the Court of appeal of Antwerp ruled on a case regarding the deductibility of costs of stock options and upholds the lower court’s decision, confirming that remunerations (stock options income in this case) may not always be treated as deductible expenses.
The dispute in this case revolves around the deductibility of costs incurred by the plaintiff in relation to a stock option plan and whether they meet the finality requirement as provided in Article 49 of the Belgian Income Tax Code (ITC). The plaintiff argues that they have met the conditions of Article 49 of ITC. They point out that their director is the only person who performs services for the company and that the allocation of stock options was mentioned in the minutes of the general meeting of the company. They also argue that their director has performed additional work outside of their regular medical activities.
