Checking a customer or supplier before signing

1. Identity, at the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises

The CBE Public Search is free and requires no registration. With the enterprise number or the name, you read, at enterprise level: the number, the name, the registered office address, the legal form, the legal situation (active, in liquidation, bankrupt, struck off), the start dates, the activities (NACE codes), the qualities (VAT taxable person, NSSO employer), the functions and their holders, and the number of establishment units, each with its address and activities.

What to check first:

• the legal situation and the start date: a company a few months old has no accounts yet;
• the consistency between the declared activities and what you are offered;
• the functions: who binds the company, since when;
• that the VAT number on the invoice (BE followed by the enterprise number) matches the entity you are signing with, and not another company of the same group.

2. The annual accounts, at the National Bank

The Consult application of the Central Balance Sheet Office gives access to every set of accounts filed since 1 January 1999, in PDF, and as structured data for XBRL filings. The latest filing is read in five lines:

1. The closing date. The CCA requires filing at the latest seven months after the year end (art. 3:10). A latest filing older than nineteen months signals a delay.
2. Equity (10/15): positive? What share of total liabilities and equity (10/49)? That is solvency as the NBB defines it. Negative equity calls for the alarm bell procedure.
3. Cash (50/53 + 54/58): how many months of expenses?
4. The result for the year (9904): profit or loss, and the change against the previous year, always present in the filing.
5. Amounts payable within one year (42/48) against current assets: liquidity. A sharp rise in taxes, remuneration and social security debts (45) can signal arrears towards the administration; the full format details in its notes the overdue debts to the tax authorities and the NSSO.

FinScan does this reading in one search and flags the points of vigilance.

3. The filing itself is a signal

Filing the accounts is a legal obligation with sanctions attached. Knowing them helps to interpret a delay:

• a late filing contribution is due from the ninth month after the year end: in 2026, EUR 151 (abridged or micro format) or EUR 504 (full) in the ninth month, EUR 227 or 755 from the tenth to the twelfth month, EUR 453 or 1,510 from the thirteenth (CCA, art. 3:13);
• the damage suffered by third parties is presumed to result from the non-filing (art. 3:10);
• the enterprise court may order the judicial dissolution of a company that has not filed its accounts, after a period of seven months following the year end (art. 2:74), and the Crossroads Bank may strike off ex officio a company that has not filed for three consecutive financial years (Code of Economic Law, art. III.42).

An isolated delay happens. Repeated delays most often reflect difficult administrative management, sometimes financial difficulties.

4. The withholding obligation, before paying

If you use a contractor for construction work, cleaning, security or in the meat sector, you cannot pay its invoice without checking whether it has tax or social debts. If it has, you must withhold part of the amount excluding VAT and pay it to the administration: 15% for tax debts, 35% for social debts (NSSO). Since 1 May 2026, self-employed social contribution debts (NISSE) also enter the scheme, with a 15% withholding.

The check takes one minute on checkobligationderetenue.be, with the enterprise number. Not doing it exposes the principal to a fine of 15% of the invoice amount excluding VAT (capped at EUR 10,578.23 in 2026 for the NISSE part) and, depending on the part, to joint liability for the contractor's debts. Beyond the obligation, the result of the check is an excellent indicator: a company in order with its contributions and taxes is rarely in great difficulty.

5. Publications and procedures

• In the Belgian Official Gazette, the deeds of companies: incorporation, amendment of the articles of association, appointment and resignation of directors, transfer of registered office, dissolution. A change of directors or registered office shortly before your contract deserves a question.
• In the Central Solvency Register (RegSol): bankruptcy and judicial reorganisation procedures opened since 1 May 2018 and still ongoing. Consultation is free; it requires creating an account and requesting access to the file, granted by the trustee, the judge or the debtor as the case may be.

6. Adapting your terms

The goal is not to refuse, but to adjust:

What you read	What you can ask for
Healthy structure, comfortable cash, filings on time	Usual terms
A few months of cash, falling profitability	Short payment terms, invoicing by stages
Weak equity or repeated losses, lengthening customer days	Deposit, payment on order
Negative equity, missing or late filings	Payment in advance, personal guarantee, retention of title clause
Tax or social debts flagged by the withholding obligation	Legal withholding, and payment in advance for the balance

And note it down: a company tracked in FinScan is re-read when its next filing arrives.