Equity in Belgian annual accounts: contribution, reserves and profit carried forward (code 10/15)
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The short answer
Equity (eigen vermogen) is what is left of a Belgian company's assets once provisions and debts are paid: the shareholders' stake on paper. In the filed annual accounts it is code 10/15, the first block on the liabilities side. Since the 2019 company law reform it has five parts: the contribution (10/11, which is capital in an NV but available and unavailable contribution in a BV), revaluation surpluses (12), reserves (13), profit or loss carried forward (14) and investment grants (15). Divide equity by total liabilities (10/49) and you get the National Bank's solvency ratio. When accumulated losses outweigh everything else, equity turns negative. In a BV the alarm bell procedure starts as soon as that threatens; in an NV it starts when net assets fall below half of the capital.
Headings and codes come from the National Bank's filing models and ratio definitions, the Code of Companies and Associations on Justel and CBN advice 2019/14, read on 1 October 2026. This is general information, not accounting or legal advice.
Where equity sits in the accounts
The liabilities side of a Belgian balance sheet has three blocks: equity (10/15), provisions and deferred taxes (16) and debts (17/49). Together they equal total liabilities (10/49), which always matches total assets (20/58). Equity is not cash: it is the part of the balance sheet funded by the owners rather than by lenders and suppliers. How the Belgian balance sheet is built walks through the other blocks.
The components, code by code
Since the reform the National Bank has separate models for companies with capital (mainly the NV) and without capital (the BV and CV). Only the contribution lines differ.
Code | Heading in the filing (Dutch) | What it is | Who has it |
|---|---|---|---|
10/11 | Inbreng | Contribution: what the shareholders brought in | All |
10 (100, 101) | Kapitaal | Subscribed capital, minus the part not yet called up | NV, at least 61,500 euros |
11 (1100/10, 1109/19) | Buiten kapitaal | Contribution outside capital, such as share premiums | NV |
110 and 111 | Beschikbaar, Onbeschikbaar | Available and unavailable contribution | BV, CV |
12 | Herwaarderingsmeerwaarden | Revaluation surpluses on fixed assets | All |
130 | Wettelijke reserve | Legal reserve | NV only |
1311, 1312, 1313, 1319 | Onbeschikbare reserves | Reserves made unavailable by the articles, for own shares bought back, for financial assistance, and other | All |
132 | Belastingvrije reserves | Untaxed reserves | All |
133 | Beschikbare reserves | Available reserves | All |
14 | Overgedragen winst (verlies) | Profit or loss carried forward, plus or minus | All |
15 | Kapitaalsubsidies | Investment grants, released to the income statement over time | All |
19 | Voorschot aan de vennoten op de verdeling van het netto-actief | Advance to shareholders on the distribution of net assets, deducted from the other items | All |
Source: the National Bank's micro models for companies with capital and for companies without capital (release 2021). The abbreviated and full models use the same main codes.
What the 2019 reform changed
The Code of Companies and Associations abolished capital for the BV. Founders must provide starting equity sufficient for the planned activity (article 5:3), backed by a two-year financial plan kept by the notary (article 5:4). That is why a BV shows "contribution" split into available and unavailable, not "capital".
For existing companies the switch happened on 1 January 2020. The paid-up capital and the legal reserve of every BVBA were converted by law into a statutorily unavailable equity account. Following CBN advice 2019/14, the old capital moved to other unavailable contribution (1119, under 111) and the old legal reserve to statutorily unavailable reserves (1311). That money stays unavailable until the shareholders amend the articles. So a former BVBA usually still shows its old paid-up capital, now under 111.
The NV kept its capital: at least 61,500 euros (article 7:2), and a legal reserve fed with at least one twentieth of net profit each year until it reaches one tenth of the capital (article 7:211). The BV model has no legal reserve line. More on the forms in the Belgian legal forms explained, and on adding money later in how a capital increase works in Belgium.
Reserves versus profit carried forward
Both are past profits kept in the company. The difference is a decision. Each year the general meeting appropriates the result: profit or loss of the year (9905) plus the amount carried forward from last year (14P), plus withdrawals from equity (791/2), minus additions to equity (691/2) and minus profit paid out (694/7). Additions go to the reserves (6920 legal reserve, 6921 other reserves) or to the contribution (691). What remains is the new profit or loss carried forward (14).
Reserves are profit the shareholders chose to set aside; carried forward is the balance nobody has allocated. A loss lands in code 14 first, so a negative figure there is the earliest warning in the equity block.
Equity, solvency and dividends
The National Bank's solvency ratio is equity (10/15) divided by total liabilities (10/49), times 100. The solvency ratio in Belgium covers the benchmarks and the pitfalls. Return on equity uses the same denominator: profit for the year (9904) divided by equity, and the National Bank only calculates it when equity is positive.
Equity also limits what shareholders may take out. A BV may not distribute anything if its net assets are negative or would become negative, or fall below its unavailable equity (article 5:142), and the board must also confirm the company can keep paying its debts for the next twelve months (article 5:143). An NV may not let net assets fall below paid-up capital plus unavailable reserves (article 7:212). In both cases the unamortised part of revaluation surpluses counts as unavailable. Net assets are assets minus provisions and debts, and minus unamortised formation and research costs: usually close to equity.
Negative equity and the alarm bell
Negative equity means accumulated losses exceed everything the shareholders put in and kept in: debts are larger than assets on book value. It is not bankruptcy, and a subsidiary funded by its parent can live with it for years. But the law reacts. In a BV or CV, the board must convene the general meeting within two months when net assets threaten to become or have become negative (articles 5:153 and 6:119). In an NV, the thresholds are half and a quarter of the capital (article 7:228). The alarm bell procedure in Belgium explains the special report and the director liability that follow.
A worked example
A fictitious BV, incorporated as a BVBA in 2015 with 18,550 euros of fully paid capital and 1,855 euros of legal reserve, both converted in 2020. Figures in euros.
Code | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
111 Unavailable contribution | 18,550 | 18,550 | 18,550 | 18,550 |
1311 Statutorily unavailable reserves | 1,855 | 1,855 | 1,855 | 1,855 |
133 Available reserves | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
14 Profit (loss) carried forward | 30,000 | 45,000 | -35,000 | -80,000 |
15 Investment grants | 12,000 | 9,000 | 6,000 | 3,000 |
10/15 Equity | 102,405 | 114,405 | 31,405 | -16,595 |
10/49 Total liabilities | 420,000 | 450,000 | 430,000 | 400,000 |
Solvency (10/15 ÷ 10/49) | 24.4% | 25.4% | 7.3% | -4.1% |
In 2024 a loss of 80,000 euros swung code 14 to minus 35,000. Equity stayed positive at 31,405 euros, above the 20,405 euros of unavailable equity, so a small distribution was still legally possible if the liquidity test passed. In 2025 a further loss of 45,000 euros pushed equity below zero and the board had to ring the alarm bell. Part of the 2024 equity was investment grants, which shrink every year, so the real buffer was thinner than it looked. A supplier reading the 2024 solvency of 7.3% already had its warning.
Reading equity over several years
Put four years of code 10/15 next to each other, check whether code 14 is turning negative, and watch the contribution line: a change there points to new money from shareholders or a repayment. How to look up Belgian annual accounts shows where to get the filings for free.
For a whole customer list, one PDF at a time is slow. In Bizzy, the Financials tab of every Belgian legal entity shows equity, capital and retained earnings side by side over four filed years, with the year-on-year change, total assets, debt and the debt ratio, and the filed PDF from the National Bank for each year. A company whose equity has been shrinking for three years is visible in one row.
Frequently asked questions
What is equity in Belgian annual accounts? Code 10/15 on the liabilities side: total assets minus provisions and debts.
Does a BV still have capital? No. Since 2019 a BV has a contribution, available (110) or unavailable (111). The paid-up capital of former BVBAs became unavailable equity on 1 January 2020.
What is the difference between reserves and profit carried forward? Reserves (13) are profits the general meeting set aside; profit carried forward (14) is what remains unallocated.
What happens when equity is negative? A BV or CV must start the alarm bell procedure and may not pay dividends. An NV's alarm bell rings earlier, below half of the capital.
Photo: the Gruuthuse in Bruges, Marc Ryckaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons