Tax & Legal

For the purposes of establishing whether an VAT-exempt intra-Community supply had been made, where other evidence exists establishing that the motor vehicles had been sent to their destination in the other EU country, the assumption of the absence of documentary evidence could not contradict such other evidence.

In a case involving a charge to real estate transfer tax (RETT), the Supreme Tax Court granted the taxpayer interim relief in the form of a suspension from execution (i.e. a delayed tax payment), as the question arose as to whether one of the parties to the transaction, a letterbox company, had legal capacity.

On 21 December the German government adopted a bill to combat tax avoidance and to change certain other tax provisions. The Government’s main intention is to make it more difficult for German taxpayers to avoid tax by using letter-box companies. In addition to numerous provisions imposing obligations on the taxpayer to co-operate with the tax authorities, the bill abolishes the bank secrecy rules.