22. Deferred tax

22. Deferred tax

 

Year ended 31 December

(thousands of €)

2015

2014

Recognized deferred tax assets and liabilities

 

 

Assets

1,726

293

Liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing operations

 

 

Assets

1,726

293

Liabilities

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred tax assets unrecognized

145,513

104,484

Continuing operations

145,513

104,484

Discontinued operations

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred taxes in the consolidated statement of operations

1,433

496

Continuing operations

1,433

293

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

1,433

293

Deferred tax expenses relating to write down of previously recognized deferred tax assets

 

 

 

 

 

Discontinued operations

 

203

Deferred tax expenses net relating to origination and reversal of temporary differences

 

203

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

 

 

The notional interest deduction for an amount of €2.6 million (2014: €2.6 million) and the investment deduction of €1 million (2014: €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 2015 amounted to €434 million (2014: €315 million), €19.3 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 €265 million on 31 December 2015. These statutory tax losses can be compensated with future statutory profits for an indefinite period except for an amount of €17 million in Switzerland, Croatia, the United States and The Netherlands with expiry date between 2018 and 2030. On 31 December 2015, the available tax losses carried forward in Galapagos NV (Belgium) amounted to €184 million.

For two subsidiaries operating on a cost plus basis a deferred tax asset was set up for an amount of €1.7 million in 2015 (2014: €0.3 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 has been set up as at 31 December 2015, except for two subsidiaries operating on a cost plus basis for which a deferred tax asset was set up (of €1.7 million as explained above).