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.
On 28 June 2022, the EU Commission published its Annual Report on Taxation 2022, which according to the EU Commission highlights that EU Member States’ tax revenue has decreased for the first time since the 2009 financial crisis, while public expenditure jumped from 46.5% in 2019 to 53% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.
For the first time the German tax administration publicly raised the issue of an internal control system for tax purposes to ensure tax compliance. However, the corresponding Implementation Decree published on May 23, 2016 leaves many questions open and neglects to point out what the companies should be prepared for in the future.
