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Court of Appeal

Court of Appeal

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Any party dissatisfied with the judgement of the Court of First Instance, may appeal such judgement. The Court of Appeal has full jurisdiction to perform its own legal and factual analysis, and taxpayers may opt to be heard by 3 rather than 1 judge.

 
 

Court of Appeal

Both the taxpayer and the Belgian tax authorities – when dissatisfied with the judgement of the Court of First Instance – may decide to appeal against such judgement, and bring the case before the Court of Appeal (“Hof van Beroep” / “Cour d’Appel”), as long as the claim exceeds an amount of EUR 1,860.

It is critical to note that the appeal must be lodged within a timeframe of 1 month after the judgement of the Court of First Instance is served by the bailiff.

The general procedure before the Court of Appeal is the same as the procedure before the Court of First Instance:

  1. Introduction by filing petition, whereby the reasons for lodging the appeal should be described in view of the grounds on which the appeal is based (otherwise the appeal is void);
  2. Introductory hearing;
  3. Exchange of written pleadings between the parties, including submission to court (and also including evidence);
  4. Oral pleadings;
  5. Judgement and service of judgement.

It should be noted that the enforcement of the judgement of the Court of First Instance is suspended by the pending appeal, safeguard any uncontested portion of the judgement.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal has full jurisdiction, meaning that if a legal matter is appealed, the Court of Appeal may replace the legal analysis of the Court of First Instance with its own legal analysis, and that if a factual issue is appealed, it can reverse earlier findings of the Court of First Instance.

Finally, it is worthwhile to consider, to opt for being heard by a chamber of 3 judges, rather than 1.

 
 
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