Belgium may relax work permit norms
Belgium is strongly wooing Indian companies to invest in the country by easing work permit requirements.
By TNN |
BANGALORE: Belgium is strongly wooing Indian companies to invest in the country by easing work permit requirements. It is likely to allow ‘knowledge workers,’ that is anyone with a master’s degree working in a research department to work in the country without a work permit.
According to Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, just a working visa may suffice to work in Belgium. India invested over a billion US dollars in Belgium last year, and is among India’s top three European trading partners.
Various information technology companies like HCL, Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Indian banks like ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda already have their commercial offices in Belgium and the government hopes that with their tax reforms they will be able to attract more companies to open offices in the country.
The Belgian government has also introduced various tax breaks for its investors. Corporate and personal income tax has been lowered across the board. To give R&D activities a boost, taxes levied on night and shift works in industry or by knowledge workers in the sector have been reduced.”
The most important measure is notional interest. This unique measure makes the cost of capital tax deductible for both Belgian and foreign investors. It reduces the existing discrimination between the tax treatment of debt-financing and the tax treatment of equity-financing. It significantly cuts the cost of capital, and substantially lowers corporate tax,“ said Guy Verhofstadt, the prime minister of Belgium.
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Trade between India and Belgium currently stands at 15.5% of the total EU-India trade. The Belgian government hopes that with the new treaties they have signed in the space of pharmaceuticals, technology and science trade relations between the two countries will improve. Download
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