Tax & Legal

An online form enabling the taxpayer to meet his extended duty to cooperate under Section 12 (2) of the Tax Haven Defence Act (in full “Act on Defence against Tax Avoidance and Unfair Tax Competition and amending other laws”) has been published on the homepage Federal Central Tax Office.

The German Federal Ministry of Finance has published a draft bill for a so-called "Tax Haven Defense Act", which provides for the implementation of defense measures in regard to business relationships or shareholdings with reference to certain non-cooperative states.

On 10 June 2021, the Bundestag approved the "Act to avert tax avoidance and unfair tax competition and to amend other laws". In doing so, the Bundestag followed the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

At its session on 25 June, the Bundesrat approved several tax laws.

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.

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.

The finance ministry has drafted legislation to tighten and streamline the rules under which tax evaders who come forward can avoid prosecution.

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.

Following the recommendation of its Finance Committee, the Bundestag adopted the Finance Act 2024 (FA 2024) in an amended version on 18 October 2024.