Cyber-attack on tax-on-web
Today is the last day on which you can file your tax returns online using the tax-on-web application without risking a fine. By yesterday 2.36 million Belgians had filed their tax returns in this way. As the deadline beaconed the website experienced problems as a result of a cyber-attack.
Many Belgians wait until the last minute to file their returns and in the run up to the midnight deadline volumes of 80,000 returns per day were anticipated. On Tuesday morning Belgian tax payers experienced problems logging on to the website. The finance ministry has now acknowledged that the service was the target of a cyber-attack. After this became clear a secure platform installed following an earlier attack was activated allowing the website's activity to resume.
Last year 87,000 fines were imposed for tardy returns. Fines vary from 50 to 1,250 euros on top of tax increases of between 10% and 200%.
Taxpayers enlisting the aid of an accountant can wait until 27 October in order to file their return.