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.
In its decision of 3 June 2025, (IX R 39/21 - published on 20 No-vember 2025), the Supreme Tax Court referred the "switch-over" in Section 20 (2) Foreign Tax Act (“FTA”) to the ECJ: de-nial of DTA exemption for passive and low-taxed foreign per-manent establishments and partnerships. The core question of the referral is whether it should be possible for the taxpayer – in the context of CFC taxation under Section 7 FTA et seq. – to provide "counter-evidence" in accordance with Section 8 (2) FTA.
On 5 December 2024, the Federal Ministry of Finance published a second draft of the German Pillar 2 Tax Amendment Act (hereinafter referred to as “the draft act”) for feedback by 31 January 2025 as part of the consultation process. In addition to the aspects already included in the first draft [Newsflash, March 21, 2023], this second draft includes further amendments – inter alia – by implementing the OECD Administrative Guidance from June 2024.
Furthermore, the draft act foresees that other provisions concerning international taxation are to be repealed. These include inter alia the license barrier rule under Sec. 4j of the German Income Tax Act, a rule foreseeing the non-deduction of so-called special business expenses according to Sec. 4i German Income Tax Act and the CFC taxation rule ...
The case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerned an annulment application in respect of a decision by the European Commission that certain parts of the UK’s controlled foreign company (CFC) regime constituted state aid. The case was an appeal against the General Court’s earlier decision to uphold the Commission’s state aid determination.
On Monday, 10 July 2023, the Federal Ministry of Finance sent the draft bill for the implementation of the Directive to ensure a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large domestic groups in the Union (so-called Minimum Taxation Directive Implementation Act – “Implementation Bill”) to the associations with the request for comment by 21 July 2023.
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.
The change in the method for avoiding double taxation of certain foreign profits (the „switch-over“ from exemption to the tax credit method) stated in Section 20 (2) of the Foreign Tax Act requires that the German taxpayer controls the foreign company that generates the profits. This most recent decision of the Supreme Tax Court is contrary to the opinion of the German Ministry of Finance in a circular from 2014.
On August 6, 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) sent the draft bill for a law to adjust the Minimum Tax Act (“MTA”) and implement further measures (“MTAA – Draft”) to the associations for comment by August 11, 2025. The draft bill includes measures for the implementation of the OECD Administrative Guidance on Article 9.1 of the Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules from January 2025 as well as “accompanying measures" that are intended to contribute to the simplification of international tax law ("decluttering") outside the scope of the MTA.
