The financial plan in Belgium: what the law requires, and how to build it

What the Code of Companies and Associations says

Before incorporation, the founders give the notary a financial plan justifying the amount of the initial equity in light of the projected activity over at least two years; the plan is not filed with the deed but kept by the notary (article 5:4 § 1 CSA for the SRL/BV; the same rule applies to the cooperative, article 6:5, and, for the capital of the SA/NV, article 7:3).

The plan must contain at least (article 5:4 § 2): a precise description of the activity; an overview of all financing sources at incorporation, including any guarantees; an opening balance sheet and projected balance sheets after twelve and twenty-four months; a projected income statement after twelve and twenty-four months; a budget of projected income and expenses over at least two years; a description of the assumptions behind the expected turnover and profitability; and, where applicable, the name of the external expert who helped draw up the plan.

Founder liability

If the company is declared bankrupt within three years of acquiring legal personality and its initial equity was manifestly insufficient to carry on the projected activity normally for at least two years, the founders are jointly liable for the company’s obligations, in the proportion set by the court (article 5:16, 2° CSA). The notary then hands the plan to the court on request.

A four-step method

1. Revenue: build it from concrete units (customers, volumes, prices) and justify each assumption.
2. Costs: separate variable from fixed costs, include social contributions and the cash effect of VAT.
3. Investments: list them with their date and depreciation period. For companies, declining-balance depreciation is no longer allowed for assets acquired from 1 January 2020, and the first annual depreciation is pro rata temporis (law of 25 December 2017).
4. Financing and cash: contributions, loans and leasing, month by month.

Corporate income tax in the plan

For assessment year 2026, the standard corporate income tax rate is 25%; a small company that meets the conditions of article 215 of the Income Tax Code (CIR 92) may apply the reduced rate of 20% on the first €100,000 of taxable income. Among those conditions, a remuneration of at least €45,000 (assessment year 2026) for at least one director — a condition that only applies from the 5th taxable period after incorporation (FPS Finance, explanatory notes to the 2026 corporate tax return).

The financial plan in Fiplan

In Fiplan, you enter assumptions by module (revenue, staff, investments, financing, contributions); the software writes the journal on the Belgian standard chart of accounts (PCMN), derives the balance sheet, income statement and cash-flow statement from it, and checks Assets = Liabilities at every calculation. The Notary report follows the headings of article 5:4 of the Code of Companies and Associations (CSA); the Bank, Advisory and Standard reports address their own readers; the Excel workbook contains real formulas.