In this blog, we dive into the system that forms the backbone of trade statistics within the European Union: Intrastat. Whether you're a seasoned expert or new to the field, this blog will provide you with the necessary insights to report your trade with other EU countries/regions.
Intrastat declaration in Belgium
Companies in the European Union (EU) must report their trade with other EU countries/regions. Intrastat is the system used to collect trade statistics on goods within these countries/regions.
For Belgium, Intrastat declarations must be filed with the National Bank of Belgium, and as a company liable for Intrastat, you will fall under either the simplified or the extended declaration. If you are unsure which applies to your company, you can request this information from the National Bank of Belgium.
Activating the new Intrastat feature in Business Central
Recently, the Intrastat declaration in Business Central has been updated, and this new version will soon become mandatory for everyone (for now, with the release of Business Central V25).
If you want to test the changes for your company in advance for this mandatory release, you can activate the new version via function management:
Once you have activated the new feature, there are a few more steps you need to complete.
Step 1: Intrastat Report Configuration
First, go to the “Intrastat Report Configuration” page. Here you can specify whether you need to submit only receipts, shipments, or both. However, you can also specify a number of default transaction codes here.
Next, you must definitely provide a Data Exchange Code. Based on this code, you can determine whether it is a simplified or extended declaration.
These data exchange definition codes are normally created during the activation of the new feature. If that is not the case, please be sure to contact our support department. They will certainly be able to help you further at that time.
Step 2: Intrastat Report List
In a second step, you go to the Intrastat report list and create a new report for the desired month period. On this overview screen, you can also immediately see whether the report has been indicated or not.
Step 3: Export Intrastat Report
In a third step, we will look at the Intrastat report itself.
The header contains two important fields that show you if and which part of the report has already been indicated. Furthermore, you will also see when this happened in the export date and export time fields.
For export, there must naturally also be item records. You can have these retrieved via the “suggest rules” function. When all rules are correct, you can create an export via the “create file” function, which you can then upload to the National Bank of Belgium/OneGate.
Do you have any further questions on this topic or are you interested in implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for your company? Please don't hesitate to contact us using the contact form below. We are ready to help you!
authors: Lode Simons & Riet Mondelaers