Bart Verdickt quoted by De Standaard regarding Flemish Government plans to reform the inheritance tax on bequests to charity

Bart Verdickt, inheritance law specialist in the Greenille Private Client practice, was interviewed by the De Standaard newspaper regarding the Flemish Government's plans to reform the inheritance tax applicable to so-called "duo-bequests".

A duo-bequest is a mechanism whereby a (part of) the estate is left to a charity organisation, under the condition of paying out a certain amount of the bequest to a third party beneficiary on the one hand, and paying the inheritance taxes due by said third party beneficiary on the other.

Given that the tax rate for beneficiary organisations is more favourable than that to be paid by private individual heirs, this leads to a lower overall inheritance tax charge. The duo-bequest mechanism was seen to be exposed to a degree of misuse.

The new Flemish Government, in place since the 30 September 2019 agreement, aims to tackle duo-bequest loopholes by reforming the inheritance tax regime around it.

Read the article published by De Standaard (subscription required)