Jaarrekening.be
You look up a customer in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE), Belgium's company register, and see a line that should not be there: "Ex officio strike-off". Status active, normal situation, and still struck off. What does that mean for your open invoice, and what does the company have to do to get rid of it?
The short answer
- Ground
- Three financial years without annual accounts
- Legal basis
- Art. III.42, §1, 4° Code of Economic Law
- Reversal
- File the missing annual accounts
What the law says
Article III.42, §1, 4° of the Code of Economic Law allows the CBE's management service to strike off ex officio, at no cost, companies that, according to the data of the National Bank of Belgium, have not complied with the obligation to file their annual accounts for at least three consecutive financial years. The same provision states that the CBE withdraws the strike-off after the unfiled annual accounts have been filed with the National Bank of Belgium.
The FPS Economy is clear about the consequence: the company continues to exist legally after this administrative strike-off. Its rights and obligations, such as VAT and NSSO returns, remain in place, subject to the assessment of the courts.
Other grounds for a strike-off
Not filing is not the only reason. Article III.42 also provides for, among others:
| Ground | When | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Annual accounts not filed (4°) | At least three consecutive financial years without annual accounts at the National Bank | After the missing annual accounts are filed |
| Inactive company (5°) | Among others at least three years without active activities or establishment units, and seven years without any change in the CBE and no publication other than annual accounts | As soon as one of the conditions is no longer met |
| UBO obligations (6°) | According to the FPS Finance, among others still no UBO data sixty days after a fine, or no annual update for a year | As soon as the FPS Finance considers the formalities in order |
In CBE Public Search, the reason is stated next to the strike-off, for example a strike-off for failing to meet UBO obligations, together with the date.
How to recognise a strike-off
A struck-off company does not stand out at first sight in the CBE. The status remains "Active" and the legal situation "Normal situation". The strike-off appears on a separate line:
-
Open the record in CBE Public Search
Search on kbopub.economie.fgov.be by enterprise number. -
Look under the name
If there is a strike-off, the line "Ex officio strike-off" appears under the name, with the reason and the date it took effect. -
Check the annual accounts
Look up the company in NBB Consult or on Jaarrekening.be and see which financial year was filed last. With a strike-off for not filing, at least three years are missing. -
Read the publications
The strike-off and any later withdrawal are published in the Annexes to the Belgian Official Gazette.
Do not wait for the strike-off to act. It only comes after three missed years. A company that is one or two years behind does not show up in the CBE yet, but it does in its annual accounts: the company page on Jaarrekening.be lists all filed years side by side, so a gap stands out immediately.
- 16.4%
- paid a surcharge because they filed late
- 11,957
- companies only filed in the thirteenth month after year-end or later
- 56.5%
- filed within the legal seven months
Companies that did not file at all are not in these figures. A late filing is therefore already a signal; three years of nothing is a much stronger one.
Read also Filing annual accounts in Belgium, deadline, costs and penalties in 2026What it means for you as a supplier or customer
- Your debtor still exists. The strike-off does not make an outstanding invoice invalid. You can keep sending reminders, summon the company or apply for a payment order.
- You have no recent figures. Three years without annual accounts means nobody outside the company knows how it is doing. Setting a credit limit based on figures is then impossible.
- The directors are more exposed. If a company does not file on time, damage suffered by third parties is presumed, unless proven otherwise, to result from that failure (art. 3:10 BCCA). That makes it easier to hold directors liable if things go wrong.
- The court can dissolve the company. An interested party, such as a creditor, or the public prosecutor can seek judicial dissolution. No strike-off is needed for that.
How the company reverses the strike-off
If it is your own company, or that of a customer you want to help, the route is simple but not free:
-
Have the missing annual accounts prepared and approved
Every missing financial year must be prepared and approved by the general meeting, even if the company had little activity in the meantime. -
File them with the National Bank
File the years in chronological order. Expect the normal filing fees plus a surcharge per late set of annual accounts. -
Wait for the withdrawal
The CBE withdraws the strike-off itself after the filing. The withdrawal is published in the Annexes to the Belgian Official Gazette. -
Check the CBE record
Check in CBE Public Search whether the line "Ex officio strike-off" has gone. If not, contact the CBE helpdesk.
For a strike-off over UBO obligations, the route is different: you complete or update the UBO register, and the strike-off lapses as soon as the FPS Finance confirms that everything is in order.
Strike-off or judicial dissolution
Both measures are linked to not filing, but they differ fundamentally.
| Ex officio strike-off | Judicial dissolution | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides | The CBE, administratively | The enterprise court |
| When possible | After three consecutive financial years without filing | From seven months after the close of a financial year without filing |
| Initiated by | The CBE, based on the National Bank's data | Any interested party, the public prosecutor, or after notification by the chamber for enterprises in difficulty |
| Consequence | The company continues to exist, with a visible mention | The company is dissolved and goes into liquidation |
| Remedy | Automatic after filing | The court can first grant a period to regularise; after the judgment, the dissolution is final |
Judicial dissolution is governed by article 2:74 BCCA. The court can either grant a period to regularise the situation or order the dissolution. The claim can only be brought seven months after the close of the financial year, and it is brought against the company. The dissolution takes effect from the judgment and can be relied on against third parties from its publication.
For a creditor, that is the interesting part: you do not have to wait three years. If a customer with an unpaid invoice also fails to file its annual accounts, you can seek dissolution. A liquidator then takes over the management and distributes what there is among the creditors.
Read also Liquidation of a Belgian company, what do you do as a supplier?In short
An ex officio strike-off for not filing means a company has not submitted annual accounts for at least three years. It still exists and remains your debtor, but you know nothing about its financial position, and that in itself is the signal. Only deliver with security. The company itself gets rid of the strike-off by filing the missing annual accounts. If you do not want to wait, you can, as an interested party, go to the enterprise court as early as seven months after a missed year-end.