Tax & Legal

In cannot be assumed from the outset that electronic data which is not automatically transferred to the paper file/electronic file but is only available for retrieval on the tax authority's data storage devices has in any case been known to the tax authorities simply because it is linked to the taxpayer's tax reference number. A married couple could not rely on the tax office to ascertain their tax situation from their wage tax certificates. Anything that is not included in the file is not explained, the Supreme Tax Court said in its conclusion on the question of tax evasion.

In a most recently published decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that a tax assessment can be corrected at any time if electronically transmitted data is sent to the tax office. It does not make a difference if the content of the data was already known to the tax office.

Today, the Council of the EU reached a political agreement on a new directive paving the way for the introduction of an electronic tax certificate for VAT exemptions. The directive will provide for an electronic certificate to replace the existing paper certificate that is used when goods are to be exempt from VAT, for example because they are imported for embassies, international organizations, or armed forces.

On 4 December 2024 the Council of the EU reached an agreement on a proposed framework for Financial Data Access (FIDA) that aims to open the access of financial institutions to each other’s customer data.

In a recently published decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that a law firm in the legal form of a limited liability company (GmbH) acting as representative of the claimant was not obliged to use the mandatory electronic legal communication system when submitting an appeal to the tax authorities before 1 August 2022.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that tax auditors may only evaluate taxpayer data in the taxpayer’s offices or in their own tax offices and must delete it once the assessments for the year in question are final.