Results and financial situation of firms in 2012

This article looks at the financial situation of non-financial corporations in Belgium over the period from 1 January to 31 December 2012. After briefly describing the methodology and the population studied, it presents an extrapolation of the main operating result items for 2012, with a sectoral and size breakdown. It shows that operating results deteriorated, but more for big companies than for SMEs. The article assesses then the financial situation of companies as regards profitability and solvency. The last section presents an analysis of the corporate tax burden, according to the concept of implicit tax rate. There is a clear trend to the erosion of this rate, but a light revival is observed in the recent years mainly due to the restrictions applied to the notional interest deduction regime.