22. Deferred tax

22. Deferred tax

 

31 December

(thousands of €)

2016

2015

Recognized deferred tax assets and liabilities

 

 

Assets

1,957

1,726

Liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred tax assets unrecognized

128,377

145,513

 

 

 

Deferred taxes in the consolidated statement of operations

231

1,433

Tax benefit arising from previously unrecognized tax assets used to reduce deferred tax expense (+)

421

1,433

Deferred tax expenses relating to use of previously recognized deferred tax assets

(190)

 

The notional interest deduction for an amount of €2.6 million (2015: €2.6 million) and the investment deduction of €1 million (2015: €1 million) could give rise to deferred tax assets. The amount of notional interest deduction that has been accumulated in the past can be carried forward for maximum seven years, the notional interest deduction of 2012 and following years will not be carried forward according to a change in the Belgian tax legislation. There is no limit in time for the investment deduction.

The consolidated unused tax losses carried forward at 31 December 2016 amounted to €385 million (2015: €434 million), €17 million were related to unrecognized tax losses with expiry date between 2018 and 2030.

The available statutory tax losses carried forward that can be offset against future statutory taxable profits amounted to €311.1 million on 31 December 2016. These statutory tax losses can be compensated with future statutory profits for an indefinite period except for an amount of €18 million in Switzerland, Croatia, the United States and the Netherlands with expiry date between 2018 and 2030. On 31 December 2016, the available tax losses carried forward in Galapagos NV (Belgium) amounted to €230.9 million.

We have a history of losses. Excluding the impact of possible upfront or milestone payments to be received from collaborations, we forecast to continue incurring taxable losses in the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in clinical and pre-clinical development programs and discovery platforms. Consequently, no deferred tax asset was set up as at 31 December 2016, except for two subsidiaries operating on a cost plus basis for which deferred tax assets were recognized for €2.0 million (2015 : €1.7 million).