On 29 May 2017 the Council of the EU formally and unanimously adopted the Council Directive amending Directive (EU) 2016/1164 as regards hybrid mismatches with third countries (ATAD II).
On 24 March 2021, a government draft bill aiming to implement the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) passed the cabinet (in the following referred to as “Draft”) after lengthy political efforts.
On 24 March 2021, a government draft bill aiming to implement the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) passed the cabinet (in the following referred to as “Draft”) after lengthy political efforts.
On 10 December 2019, the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) provided various federations and associations with a draft bill on the Implementation of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD Implementation Act) for comment. The decision of the Cabinet has already been scheduled for 18 December 2019.
In a most recent decision, the European Court of Justice held that that Belgium acted in breach of its obligations under the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market by failing to adopt the laws, regulations, and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Article 8 (7) of that directive.
On 5 May 2021, the Bundestag passed the Act to Modernise the Relief of Withholding Taxes and the Certification of Capital Gains Tax. The law as passed is based on the resolution recommended and passed by the Bundestag Finance Committee on 21 April 2021.
On 11 May 2022, the European Commission published a draft Directive which is intended to mitigate the tax induced debt-equity bias in corporate investment decisions. Technically, this is to be achieved through, on the one hand, an allowance that provides for the deductibility of notional interest on equity and, on the other, by introducing further restrictions on the deductibility of interest on debt.
On 10 October 2024 the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) published a first draft of a revised BMF circular on the interest limitation provisons in Section 4a Income Tax Act (ITA) and Section 8a Corporate Tax Act (CTA). Due to various amendments which took place in the course of the Act to Promote the Secondary Credit Market (Kreditzweitmarktförderungsgesetz) the tax administration sees the need for revisions.
On 15 December 2023, the Bundesrat approved the partial implementation of the contents of the Growth Opportunities Act in the Act to Promote the Secondary Credit Market. This includes changes to the interest limitation rule and adjustments resulting from the introduction of the Act for the Modernisation of Partnerships.
The Italian Tax Authorities (ITA) launched, on October 18, a public consultation on the draft interpretative Circular Letter (the ‘Draft Circular’), which, at 111 pages, covers the application of the hybrid mismatch arrangements rules (the ‘Hybrid Rules’) as governed by Legislative Decree 142/2018 (the ‘ATAD Decree’) that implements the ATAD Directives through domestic italian legislation.
On 17 March 2021, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) published a decree on the application of Section 8 (2) of the Foreign Tax Act (AStG) which stipulates the “motive test” taxpayers have to meet to escape controlled foreign company (CFC) taxation.
The Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) has sent the draft of a revised version of the attribution taxation for foreign family foundations pursuant to Section 15 of the Foreign Tax Act to certain associations. They as well as interested professionals are given the opportunity to comment until 15 January 2026.
On 28 July 2022, the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF)) sent its draft of a Finance Bill 2022 to the industry associations with a request for comments by August 11.
On 22 December 2021 the European Commission presented a draft directive to prevent the abuse of shell companies for tax purposes whereby amending the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD 3). The proposal should ensure that entities in the EU that have no or minimal economic activity are unable to benefit from any tax advantages and do not place any financial burden on taxpayers.
