The ECJ held that Article 132(1)(m) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC exempting âthe supply of certain services closely linked to the practice of sport or physical educationâ is not being of direct effect and cannot be directly invoked before the national (local) courts. It is for the national court to determine in detail what kind of services provided by sports clubs are exempt from VAT. Continue reading
Tax & Legal
The Supreme Tax Court has granted a taxpayerâs appeal against a real estate transfer tax assessment on the grounds that an indirect change in the shareholdings in the members of a real estate partnership was less than a complete change of interest in the partnership. With its decision the court has confirmed its case law regarding share transactions made prior to the enactment of the Tax Amendment Act 2015. Continue reading
The representatives of the German provinces (the upper chamber of parliament – Bundesrat) would like higher penalties for organized tax evasion and further suggest improving the investigation of such crimes. On 27 November 2020 the upper chamber decided to introduce a corresponding bill in the German Bundestag to amend the German Fiscal Code. Continue reading
A continuous and retroactive financial integration is also possible where a change in shareholder takes place during the year. The Lower Tax Court of Duesseldorf held that a fiscal unity or tax consolidation group for corporation income tax may be established already for the whole year in which the exchange of shares took place. In its judgement the court disagrees with the tax authoritiesâ official opinion on this issue. The Supreme Tax Court is now in charge and must finally decide the dispute.
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The European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld an action for breach of contract brought by the EU Commission against Germany in two of three claims. Germany had violated EU law insofar as it systematically refuses to request the information missing in an application for a VAT refund of foreign taxpayers and instead immediately refuses the refund applications in such cases if such information can be provided only after the 30 September deadline. Continue reading
The Lower Tax Court of Baden-Wuerttemberg ruled in three proceedings that Sweden has the right of taxation, even if at the time of the gift the gift tax had been abolished in Sweden. In case a donor has his residence both in Germany and Sweden, it is decisive where his main place of residence is. Continue reading
EU member states want to ensure that EU tax policy remains fit for purpose and results in fair and effective taxation in the increasingly globalised and digitalised economy of the 21st century. Therefore, the European Council approved conclusions setting out its comprehensive assessment of the main tax policy issues to be addressed over the coming years, to shape the EU policy agenda in the field of taxation. Continue reading
On 20 November 2020, the Federal Ministry of Finance published a draft bill on the modernization of the relief from and the certification of withholding taxes. The amendments relate, among other things, to the withholding and refund procedure, the anti-treaty shopping regulations and the provisions on non-resident taxation for income arising from licensing or the disposal of rights which are entered in a domestic public register.
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Rental and lease payments for the use of movable fixed assets are not to be added back to trading profits in accordance with Section 8 No. 1 Letter d Trade Tax Act (TTA), insofar as they are to be attributed to the costs for the production/manufacture of current assets. This will also be the case in situations where the rent and lease payments would have been capitalized as production costs, had the asset still been included in the businessâ assets as at the balance sheet date and therefore had to have been capitalized. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court in a ruling published on 12 November 2020. Continue reading
In a decision of the Supreme Tax Court published on 12 November 2020, the Court held that the electronic filing of an income tax return may be considered unreasonable from an economic point of view, where the cost of setting up and maintaining a system for the transmission of remote data bears no meaningful economic correlation to the income triggered by the obligation to file the tax returns electronically Continue reading