These are persons holding a power of attorney to act as an agent and file annual accounts on an entity’s behalf with the National Bank of Belgium.

When a third party prepares annual accounts and pays the filing fee on behalf of its client, the amounts paid are considered accounting costs borne by a third party. According to Opinion No 105/2 of the Accounting Standards Commission, costs borne by an agent acting on behalf of a principal, in this case the legal entity whose annual accounts are filed, are considered to have been incurred by the principal, and it is therefore up to the principal to record these costs appropriately in its books of account. The third party may not recognise these expenses as costs, but the “advance” must appear on the assets side of its balance sheet as a claim against the principal. The amount advanced can be recovered from the principal by providing it with an invoice for the cost of preparing the annual accounts, with a separate mention of the filing fees advanced.

A copy of the Notice of filing is also sent by e-mail to the filer, provided the latter’s e-mail address has been correctly entered in its profile in the Filing application.

Third-party filers cannot obtain a duplicate of the Notice of filing for annual accounts filed on behalf of their clients with the National Bank of Belgium.