Within the construction industry, every contractor will be jointly liable with any subcontractor he works with for the latter’s debts towards the social security office and tax authorities (information accessible via a database), unless he deducts 35% for social security debts and 15% for tax debts from the amount of the invoice due to the subcontractor and transfers it to the social security office and/or tax authorities. This joint liability applies for all subcontractors within the chain, meaning that the authorities can revert not only to the direct contractor but to any (sub)contractor within the chain to collect the amounts due. A draft bill of June 1, 2015 now extends this system of joint liability for the chain to the principal.
Belgium