North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is taking another decisive step in the fight against tax evasion. The State Office for Combating Financial Crime has acquired a terabyte of data relating to customers in offshore tax havens. The impact on taxpayers could be tremendous.
In cannot be assumed from the outset that electronic data which is not automatically transferred to the paper file/electronic file but is only available for retrieval on the tax authority's data storage devices has in any case been known to the tax authorities simply because it is linked to the taxpayer's tax reference number. A married couple could not rely on the tax office to ascertain their tax situation from their wage tax certificates. Anything that is not included in the file is not explained, the Supreme Tax Court said in its conclusion on the question of tax evasion.
The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) tax authorities have now compiled all the important information on the tax obligations of influencers and published it on a central website.
According to a press release issued today the Cabinet has decided to extend the retention period for accounting documents at banks, insurance companies and securities institutions to ten years. The amendment to the law aims to combat tax evasion and strengthen effective tax enforcement. This will enable large-scale tax evasion cases, such as those involving cum/cum and cum/ex transactions, to be vigorously prosecuted.
It started as a regional “task force” and now has developed into a nationwide search for influencers suspected of tax evasion. Special units of the tax authorities are now using state-of-the-art analysis tools throughout Germany combining artificial intelligence with traditional covert investigation methods and focusing specifically on social media income.
According to a recent ruling of the Münster Tax Court there is no tax evasion if the taxpayer on the one hand had failed to submit tax returns, but the tax office nevertheless has all the necessary information by means of the automated electronic wage tax certificates.
In its decision of 28 July 2021, the Federal Court of Justice held that claiming a refund or credit of withholding tax in the wake of cum-ex schemes is a criminal act of tax evasion. The proceeds obtained in these illegal transactions and the benefits derived therefrom may be collected.
The draft bill is being (re-)introduced to combat serious tax evasion executed via organised -"gang"- structures. The current law is limited to organised evasion of VAT and excise duties.
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Tax Court decided that there is no claim for the refund of costs incurred in the event of a successful appeal against interest on evaded amounts, even in child benefit proceedings.
The right to deduct input VAT is denied not only if the taxable person himself commits an evasion, but also if he is aware that he participated with his acquisition in a tax evasion. In the latter case the refusal of the input tax deduction is a consequence of the failure to comply with the responsibilities in suspect cases. The taxable person who knew or should have known that he or she was participating in a fraudulent transaction assists the perpetrators of that fraud and becomes an accomplice thereto. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirms its previous case law on this issue.
The representatives of the German provinces (the upper chamber of parliament - Bundesrat) would like higher penalties for organized tax evasion and further suggest improving the investigation of such crimes. On 27 November 2020 the upper chamber decided to introduce a corresponding bill in the German Bundestag to amend the German Fiscal Code.
The Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint from a taxpayer against a court order for a house search after the secret service gave a CD with income data from Liechtenstein to the tax authorities.
