Ready-Made Companies in Belgium

Yes. The Companies and Associations Code closes the list of grounds on which a BV/SRL can be declared void: defect of form, absence of a name, object or contributions, an unlawful object, or no founder validly bound (Art. 5:13 CSA). Dormancy and age are not on that list, and no statute sets a minimum trading history.

The BV, besloten vennootschap (SRL in French), is Belgium's default private limited company. It needs no minimum share capital, only sufficient initial own funds and a financial plan matched to the planned activity (Art. 5:3, 5:4 CSA). Most ready-made companies on this page are BV/SRL entities for that reason.

No. A share transfer is a private deed (acte sous seing privé) plus a declaration of transfer entered in the company's share register (Art. 5:61, 5:24 CSA). A notary is only needed if the buyer also amends the articles, for example to change the name, object, financial-year dates or the seat.

Only once the declaration of transfer is entered in the share register (Art. 5:61 CSA). Registered title is represented by that entry, not by the purchase agreement (Art. 5:23 CSA), so signing a contract is not the same as owning the shares: the register entry is the moment that counts.

Yes, unless the articles disapply it. The default rule needs written approval from at least half the shareholders holding at least three quarters of the shares, after deducting the shares proposed for transfer (Art. 5:63 §1 CSA). Three statutory exceptions apply: to another shareholder, a spouse or cohabitant, or a direct-line relative.

The transfer is not enforceable against the company or against third parties, regardless of whether the buyer acted in good or bad faith (Art. 5:63 §1 CSA). A buyer who has not read the articles of a multi-shareholder shelf company can sign, pay and still hold an unenforceable transfer.

About EUR 283 excluding VAT: the Moniteur belge amending-deed publication fee of EUR 171.70 excluding VAT (EUR 207.76 including), because a director change is an amending deed, plus the EUR 111.50 KBO/BCE establishment-unit fee, both 2026 tariffs. A notary is only added where the articles are also amended.

No official timing is published for due diligence, the approval resolution or the private deed itself; practice runs several days. The Companies and Associations Code does set one deadline: the amending deed must reach the enterprise court registry within 30 days of signing (Art. 2:8 §1 CSA).

Not guaranteed. No Belgian bank publishes a service level for onboarding after a takeover, and the new owner and director go through fresh KYC and new mandates regardless of what the seller had in place. Expect this step to run on the bank's own timeline, not the seller's.

Unpaid annual company contributions, recovered from directors personally at 1% per month of delay, and any tax or ONSS/RSZ debts disclosed in the last filed annual accounts (Art. 3:12 §1, 5°, b) CSA). Both are checkable before paying: the accounts filing and the contribution receipts.

Yes. From month eight after a missed year-end, any interested party or the public prosecutor may ask the court to dissolve the company for failing to file, though the court may grant a regularisation period instead (Art. 2:74 §1 CSA). A buyer inherits this exposure with the entity.

Age alone is not a legal or financial signal under Belgian law. What matters is the filing history, the share register and any tax or ONSS arrears, checked document by document: the KBO record and the NBB filing history are both free and public, so age adds little on its own.

The seller may owe capital gains tax on a substantial holding under the new Art. 90 CIR 92 (Law of 6 April 2026), from 1 January 2026. That liability is the seller's, not the buyer's, though a seller under pressure to close before a deadline is a negotiating fact worth knowing.

From 1 January 2026 a capital-gains tax applies to a Belgian-resident seller's substantial-holding sale. From 1 September 2026, failing to file the annual accounts became a criminal offence for the directors, with a maximum fine of EUR 80,000 (Art. 3:43 §1, 1° CSA), on top of the existing civil surcharge.

Turbo-liquidation (Art. 2:80 CSA) closes the company in a single deed, but only where its debts are repaid, consigned, or waived in writing by the creditors, plus the EUR 111.50 fee to de-register the establishment unit. Shareholders of a turbo-liquidated company remain strictly liable for any debt that was overlooked (Art. 2:104 §3 CSA).