Tax & Legal

The Administrative Court Regulations are to be fundamentally revised. This should reduce the workload on administrative courts and speed up court proceedings. The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection has published the first draft to this effect which was sent to the relevant associations for comment.

With the legislative amendments providing for the enforcement of sanctions in criminal law Germany transposed EU Directive 2024/1226 which will now significantly increase liability risks for companies. A large number of violations of foreign trade law will no longer be prosecuted as an administrative offense but as a criminal offense.

Inheritance tax is currently receiving increased attention. The discussion is being shaped by both legal questions and an increasingly lively political debate. Particular focus is being directed towards the various proceedings that have been pending before the Federal Constitutional Court for several years.

On January 14, 2026, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft of a Ninth Act Amending The Tax Consultancy Act and Other Tax Regulations. Among the various proposed amendment, the draft contains the following amendments with regard to supplementary real estate transfer tax provisions.

Today, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft amendment to the Tax Consultancy Act and other tax regulations. This initiative aims to modernize tax consultancy law and make it more flexible for citizens. The draft also contains amendments to the Real Estate Transfer Tax Act. Another focus is greater tax fairness in the area of trade tax.

On 4 December 2025, the German Parliament passed the Tax Amendment Act 2025 in the committee version.

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

On September 29, 2025, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) released a draft regulation regarding the structure and exchange of the Globe Information Return (GIR) as outlined in Section 75 MinStG. The regulation aims to transpose the OECD January 2025 guidance regarding the GIR into German law by standardizing reporting procedures and introducing transition-al simplifications. It also clarifies the role of the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) as the competent authority and secures the automatic exchange of information.

On 10 September 2025, the Federal Cabinet approved a draft bill to promote private investment and the financial centre (Location Promotion Bill). The draft law aims to provide a stronger impetus for private investment. To this end, the framework conditions for private investment should improve, particularly with regard to infrastructure, renewable energies and venture capital. Companies in the financial market sector will be relieved of unnecessary bureaucracy with the elimination of unnecessary auditing, reporting and disclosure requirements.

On 10 September 2025 the Federal Cabinet reached agreement on the Tax Amendment Act 2025. The declared goal is to provide relief as broadly as possible in areas where the crises of recent years have caused increased costs for private citizens. The measures are in line with relief measures already introduced such as lower energy prices, the Federal Ministry of Finance said.

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.

The Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) has published a draft bill for a third law amending the Energy Tax Act and the Electricity Tax Act.

According to press reports a new draft bill has been introduced by Work and Pensions Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) with the aim of easing legal requirements for company pension plans (Second Act for the Promotion of Company Pension Plans).

On 10 July 2025 the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) published a new draft bill to transpose the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) into German law. The previous federal government had already presented a draft bill to implement the CSRD. However, the legislative process was never completed. The CSRD aims to ensure that certain companies report on the social and environmental impacts and risks of their business activities. The aim of the draft bill is to implement the directive with as little bureaucracy as possible.

With the entry into force of the Act for the Modernisation of Partnership Law (“MoPeG”) on 1 January 2024, the legislators fundamentally reformed the rules regarding defective resolutions for commercial partnerships (OHG, KG, GmbH & Co. KG). Sections 109–115 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) contain for the first time detailed provisions on resolution procedures and the judicial enforcement of resolution defects.

At its meeting on 11 July 2025, the Federal Council (Bundesrat) unanimously approved the immediate investment programme for economic growth passed by the Bundestag.

On 27 June 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) published a draft to implement Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8) and at the same time opened public consultation on the draft bill.

An employee may be entitled to compensation for a breach of the General Data Protection Regulation if the employer transfers real personal data within the group to another company to test the cloud-based HR management software “Workday”. This was decided by the Federal Labor Court following a preliminary ruling of the European Court of Justice.

To adopt the EU requirements on automatic exchange of information under Directive for Administration Cooperation (DAC) to extend to the reporting by crypto-asset service providers on transactions (transfer or exchange) of crypto-assets, the Federal Ministry of Finance (MoF) published a draft bill for a DAC8 Implementation Act (DAC8-draft) on 4 November 2024 which is to come into force on 1 January 2026.

Social Democrats (SPD), the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and the Liberals (FDP) have unexpectedly agreed on the implementation of selected measures from the Act for the Further Development of Tax Law (Tax Development Act) already before the early general election in February 2025. Politically highly controversial initiatives, above all the planned introduction of a national reporting obligation for tax structures, are not part of this settlement.