Proposition 54K3559

Projet de loi modifiant le Code de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée en vue d'exempter de la TVA les dons de biens non alimentaires aux plus démunis.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Roel Deseyn
LE Benoît Dispa
MR Olivier Chastel, David Clarinval, Philippe Goffin, Benoît Piedboeuf, Sybille de Coster-Bauchau
N-VA Peter Dedecker
Open Vld Luk Van Biesen
PS | SP Ahmed Laaouej

Submission date

Feb. 19, 2019

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

VAT donation tax-free allowance

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR PVDA | PTB PP VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 28, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer, of course, to the written report.

I would like to point out, however, that it is a somewhat peculiar thing that I am a rapporteur, since I am also the main drawer. However, I assume that no one in this hemisphere will have a problem with it, as this is a very good thing. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that I made a mistake here by voluntarily applying myself as a rapporteur. However, I would like to do it for the sake of the content.

We will forgive ourselves for these mistakes.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, I do not hide from you my satisfaction to see at the end of the legislature a proposal that I have been presenting for many months, first in the form of a resolution and then in the form of a bill.

According to some data from field actors, the destruction of non-food non-food sales of common consumption would reach, in Belgium, the sum of approximately 100 million. This is enormous and it is not without damage, whether social or environmental, as these resources could benefit those who need it most instead of being thrown away and wasted.

Today, fortunately, we have a part of the solution in our hands. Indeed, while companies are already trying to avoid waste, we all know that the production and distribution process, even optimized, brings its lot of unsold. It is at this level that we are intervening.

At present, in the case of a donation of goods made by a company, the payment of VAT on the value of that donation is required. In doing so, it is very quickly understood that the destruction of the property is the preferred way since, in this case, VAT is not due. This is the path that most companies choose to take.

Nevertheless, if you listen to the companies, you find that many are those who would not be reluctant to donate their unsold, if it did not cost them so expensive. For your information, they already give goods for a value of approximately three million. Through these donations, the Goods to Give platform already helps 372 charities and 270,000 people.

Of course we can do much better. I talked about 100 million. If you say 3.5 million, it is always only a very small proportion. As an optimist person, I say to myself that there is, therefore, more than 95% of efforts to be made, that there is a significant margin of progress that the entrepreneurial world is all willing to fill provided that it is helped.

Today, we have the means to modify this behavior of destruction and waste and to correct the distortions caused by the system that had been set up. That is why I made this proposal. Let us open the way for non-food goods to not be subject to VAT, as we did in 2013 for food goods by setting a framework. These donations cannot be granted to anyone. We open this path only and exclusively for the benefit of charitable associations and institutions in charge of fighting poverty, and this subject to sufficient traceability.

What is important, in my opinion, is that these unsold benefits above all the poorest and the organizations that help them. It is also necessary that the nature of these goods is limited to the needs of primary necessity, that they bring true social plus-value, that they have a concrete effect on the quality of life as well as on the well-being of those who benefit from them. What does not spoil anything is that the cost of this measure is limited. Indeed, today, the destroyed property does not bring the least euro of VAT to our public cash, and I hope that, tomorrow, it will be given.

I do not hide from you that I am happy that my call has been so well received by all the parties in this assembly. Many have joined me by signing this bill. I thank my colleagues for their contributions to the committee and congratulate them on the unanimousness that resulted and which I hope will continue tonight in the plenary session.

To conclude, I think this shows that what benefits directly to the citizen, who creates social connection, can still cross party barriers and gather broad majorities to make decisions made with common sense.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, of course we can fully support this very interesting proposal. After all, it is all too strange that when a trader destroys his unsold stock, the VAT can be recovered, but when he gives it to a good cause, it costs him that money, because he can not recover the VAT. This, of course, leads to waste; which is not good for the environment and which is a missed opportunity in the context of the fight against poverty.

The proposal has already gone a long way behind. As early as 2013, it was already decided that no more VAT would be levied on non-commercial foods donated to approved food banks. In 2015, Minister Van Overtveldt extended the scheme to include non-selling food products donated to local governments and charitable organizations recognized by them. This initiative was legally anchored in 2018. With this legislative amendment, we take the next step and will also allow non-food products that cannot be permanently used in a sustainable way to be donated away without VAT. That is a very good thing.

I would like to point out that an amendment was submitted in the committee to prevent abuse of the exemption. Therefore, there is a small discrepancy between the original explanation and the text that was eventually approved. I would like to clarify what we mean by the term "necessary non-food products, other than goods that can be used in a sustainable way, whose intrinsic characteristics prevent them from still being sold in any link of the economic circuit under the original conditions of commercialization". That may be a complex concept, but it is important to avoid creating some sort of black second-hand circuit, which would obviously be a form of unfair competition with regard to the many local regular retailers.

In this way we limit the measure to donations for the good purpose; there can no longer be given to anyone.

We also exclude goods that can be used sustainably, in other words, goods that one could subsequently transfer or sell to another. We want to avoid such things. It cannot be about goods that lend themselves to parallel trade. The original explanatory note included a number of examples of goods that can be used permanently and are no longer eligible according to the adopted text. I want to point out that these are non-sustainable goods. Goods that can be donated without VAT tax are foodstuffs, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap and wash products, shampoo, beauty and basic care products, plastic toys, diapers, ball pens, in short, consumer goods.

The exemption does not, of course, apply to durable goods such as carcasses, mattresses, microwave ovens, dryers and cooking plates. These things clearly lend themselves to resale and can create a parallel black circuit. We want to avoid this at all times. The King is tasked with ensuring that there are no parallel trade circuits. The goal is to counter waste and to put a tooth in the fight against poverty. That is a very noble and good goal, hence our full support for the bill.