Tax & Legal

The Federal Government has presented a draft of the 2025 Tax Amendment Act.

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.

The current edition deals with the "Wachstumschancengesetz" (Growth Opportunity Act). This Act includes (but is not restricted to) important amendments with respect to future mandatory B2B electronic invoicing for businesses established in Germany.

In a Swedish reference for a preliminary ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had a first opportunity to comment on the distinction and VAT treatment of single-purpose vouchers and multi-purpose vouchers in Article 30a of the VAT Directive. According to the ECJ, the city-card of Stockholm can be viewed as a multi-purpose voucher as mentioned in Article 30a (3) VAT Directive, provided it meets the criteria for a voucher as set in Article 30(1) which is finally to be confirmed by the referring court.

The waiver of a tax exemption under Section 4 No. 9a) VATA can be revoked as long as the tax assessment for the year in which the service was rendered is still open or can still be changed under Section 164 General Tax Code. Section 9 (3) Sentence 2 VATA in the version of the 2004 Act to Accompany the Budget does not regulate the revocation.

The German Federal Ministry of Finance has commented on the changed requirements for intra-community supplies resulting from the Act on Further Tax Incentives for Electromobility and on the Amendment of other Tax Regulations – Finance Act 2019: “FA 2019” - amending the VAT Act Application Ordinance accordingly.

Prepared by Luca Lavazza

In the night of 3-4 June, coalition partners CDU/CSU and SPD agreed on a crisis management package to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.

The Supreme Tax Court has ruled that written warnings issued by a copyright holder in order to enforce his copyright following a breach are subject to VAT. The consideration for the written warning (deemed a service) was the payment from the person charged with breaching the copyright.

The tax authorities have published a circular setting out the official view of the application of the new rules on the VAT liability of operators of electronic market places introduced by the Finance Act 2018.

On 8 November 2018, the Finance Bill 2018 was adopted by the German parliament and received the consent of the Bundesrat on 23 November 2018 in the form of “The Act for the Avoidance of VAT Losses on the Trading of Goods on the Internet and Amendments to other Tax Regulations”(hereafter “Finance Act 2018”).

On 20 December 2017 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that the divergent VAT treatment of discounts granted by pharmaceutical companies (i.e. trader/entrepreneur for VAT purposes) to statutory (public) health insurance funds and private health insurance funds constitutes an infringement of EU law. The ECJ followed the Advocate General’s opinion and confirmed the doubts of the German Supreme Tax Court which had referred the question to the ECJ under reference V R 42/15.

On 4 October 2017 the European Court of Justice decided that a finance lease with an option to purchase should be qualified as a “supply of goods” where the exercise the option appears to be the only economically rational choice that the lessee could make at the appropriate time. As a result the whole of the VAT becomes due when the object to be leased is handed over.

Supreme Tax Court judges have expressed doubt both upon the previously uncontested obligation of entrepreneurs subject to the so-called imputed taxation (“Sollbesteuerung) to pre-finance VAT and upon the exclusion of the reduced VAT rate on the provision of holiday apartment rentals according to the so-called margin-scheme taxation. The Supreme Tax Court has therefore referred two cases to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) (i) referral of 21 June 2017: V R 51/16; and (ii) referral of 3 August 2017: V R 60/16.

here an entrepreneur undertakes to enter into a tenancy (landlord and tenant) for a consideration, the supply is tax exempt according to Section 4 No. 8 (g) VAT Act.

In this issue: Official ponouncements, Supreme Tax Court Cases and From Europe

The Supreme Tax Court held that services provided by a US-resident online-dating agency to German resident private users constituted electronically supplied services, with their place of supply in Germany.

The ECJ has held that there is no basic requirement on a member state to ensure that its tax authorities take the same position for both parties to a transaction.