Joint and several liability and withholding obligation for security services

The withholding obligation and the joint and several liability for social and fiscal debts as already applicable in the construction sector has now been introduced in the "security sector" (see our Newsletter: The new ' butterfly laws ').

With the Royal Decree of 17 July 2013 the government has introduced the joint and several liability and the withholding obligation for social or fiscal debts of (sub)contractors in the sector for security and/or surveillance services.

The principle entails that a principal or a contractor doing business with a (sub)contractor from the security sector having social or fiscal debts, is jointly and severally liable for the payment of these debts. Moreover, there is a withholding obligation for the payment of invoices of a (sub)contractor from the security sector that has social or fiscal debts. In this case, part of the payment (35% for social debts, 15% for fiscal debts) must be withheld and transferred to the Social Security or to the Tax authority.

A publicly accessible database of the Social Security and the Tax authority enables interested parties to verify which (sub)contractors have social or fiscal debts.

The Royal Decree enters into force on 1 September 2013.

> Action point:

From 1 September you must verify if your (sub)contractor active in the security and/or surveillance sector has fiscal and/or social debts. If this is found to be the case, you must transfer to the Tax and/or Social Security authorities part of the amount due as invoiced to you by your (sub)contractor.