Approval and filing of the company's annual accounts

I) Approval of the annual accounts

In accordance with Belgian company law, the annual accounts of a company should be submitted to the shareholders for approval on the “statutory date” (i.e. the date for holding the annual shareholders’ meeting as laid down in the company’s articles of association) and at the latest six months after the financial year-end.  
In other words, the legal deadline for approving the accounts of the financial year closed as per 31 December 2009 is 30 June 2010.

PwC can prepare the required legal documents (minutes and reports) in view of such approval, being understood that if unanimity can be reached, shareholders’ meetings can be replaced by written resolutions.

PwC can also draw up the required paperwork for formally postponing the annual shareholders’ meeting (when required and possible).  In any case, a special discharge by the shareholders to the directors (and to the statutory auditor, if any) should be provided for if the company did not meet the above-mentioned “statutory date” and/or legal deadline for approval of the accounts.

II) Filing of the annual accounts

As laid down in Belgian company law, the annual accounts of a company must be filed with the National Bank of Belgium within 30 days after their approval and at the latest seven months after the closing of the financial year.  

Late filing of the accounts will result in extra filing fees to be paid to the National Bank (in addition to the standard filing fees), which can add up to EUR 1,200 (for accounts drawn up in the full format and filed as from the 13th month after the financial year-end).   

Filing of accounts must take place electronically (except for, among others, companies having a turnover below EUR 500,000 or foreign companies with a Belgian branch office, which can still file on paper), through a specific Internet application of the National Bank of Belgium.  PwC can take care of these filing formalities on your behalf.