The Federal Ministry of Finance has officially clarified in a circular published in April that fees or remunerations paid for the placement of online advertising are not subject to German withholding tax under Section 50a paragraph 1 No. 3 Income Tax Act.
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Tax & Legal
Issue 2 of our Newsletter for 2019, including news about the Ministry of Finance draft discussion document for the promotion of R&D, a Supreme Tax Court decision on non-deductible deemed business expenses in relation to merger profits within a tax group, and an ECJ decision about passive income attribution from controlled companies resident in third countries Continue reading
According to the Düsseldorf Tax Court in a ruling of 29 January 2019 (press release from 2 April 2019), the issue of shares in Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) to shareholders of Hewlett-Packard Company (HPC) did not constitute taxable income. Continue reading
Under the extended trade tax deduction, rental income derived by entities whose activities are limited to the administration of their own real property is deductible from the trading income subject to trade tax. The Grand Senate of the Supreme Tax Court held that this trade tax deduction is also available for a commercial GmbH & Co. KG with respect to its interest in a pure asset-management civil law partnership. Continue reading
If a corporation is merged into its parent company, which in turn is a controlled company within a corporation tax group (fiscal unity/“Organschaft”) with a corporation as the controlling company (“Organträger”), the Supreme Tax Court has ruled that no flat-rate deemed business expenses are to be added back to profits under Section 8b (3) sentence 1 of the German Corporation Tax Act (CTA) either at the level of the parent company or at the level of the controlled company, where the said non-deductible flat-rate deemed business expenses are derived from a merger gain. Continue reading
The Federal Ministry of Finance is planning to introduce a bill based on the proposals made by the Finance Ministers’ Conference in November 2018 in relation to the Real Estate Transfer Act (RETT Act). It is currently envisaged that the changes, which are likely to be discussed in the Cabinet at the end of April 2019, should be included in the Finance Act 2019. Continue reading
Prior to the announcement on 21 March 2019 that Brexit may be postponed until either 12 April 2019, 22 May 2019 or possibly later, the British tax and customs authorities (HMRC) issued guidance on 18 March 2019 on the changes to VAT IT systems in the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU on 29 March 2019 without a deal. Continue reading
The fact that a taxpayer has both a residence in Germany and a residence abroad does not, according to a ruling by the Supreme Tax Court, preclude the existence if an unlimited tax liability even when the foreign residence constitutes the centre of the taxpayer’s vital interests Continue reading
In a draft discussion document the Federal Ministry of Finance has revealed plans for an annual research and development (R&D) grant costing a total of € 1.25 billion per annum. The plans provides for an initial duration of four years, after which an evaluation will follow. The Finance Ministry is thus currently planning total subsidy to the value of € 5 billion. According to the draft, the federal and state governments should each pay half of this amount. Continue reading
The European Court of Justice has held that the German provision for the taxation of controlled company income from invested capital from outside the EU might fall under the “grandfather” clause of Art 64 TFEU, provided the German legislation has remained substantially unchanged since that date. It is now for the Supreme Tax Court to decide finally whether this is the case. Continue reading