Since July 2022, landowners in Germany have been able to submit a declaration to the tax authorities to determine the new property tax. The deadline ends on October 31, 2022. It is halftime.

Based on the well-known map of Germany from the weather report, this map for this article does not show high temperatures, but on the contrary particularly low values.

A look at the rate of submission of property tax returns in the individual federal states shows that only a fraction of the more than 35 million applications have been submitted so far. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper, the fewest taxes are in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with a rate of just 4.2 percent. At 13.9 percent, Hessen is currently doing relatively well in a comparison of the federal states, but is still far below the actual tax rate of 50% that is to be expected.

The Elster portal offered by the tax authorities, through which the majority of property tax returns are submitted, crashed on the first weekend with just a few hundred thousand inquiries. It is therefore doubtful that all applications will be received without any problems by the deadline of October 31, 2022.

Christian Dobner | TLI Steuerberater

In a letter dated February 18, 2021, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) announced the status of the agreements concluded with other countries to avoid double taxation (so-called double taxation treaties or DTTs) as well as the agreement negotiations as of January 1, 2021.

The purpose of these bilateral agreements is to assign the right to tax a country and to avoid double taxation in the event that several countries are generally entitled to levy taxes. Due to increasing globalization and international networking, double taxation plays an important role in practice.

In its letter, the Federal Ministry of Finance states that various agreements are to be applied retrospectively. The retrospective applicability of agreements can lead to considerable legal uncertainty. The tax offices are instructed to carry out tax assessments provisionally if it is uncertain when the agreement will come into force. In these cases, a special need for advice is likely to be required.

On the peculiarities of the with the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Kosovo and Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, the Slovak and the Czech Republic and Taiwan as well as on the special status of Hong Kong and Macau, which was concluded with the People’s Republic of China The Federal Ministry of Finance is aware of double taxation agreements.

The annex to the letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance contains the applicable agreements in the field of taxes on income and property, the applicable agreements in the field of inheritance and gift taxes, special agreements on the income and assets of shipping and aviation companies, agreements in the field of legal and Administrative assistance and the exchange of information as well as future agreements and the ongoing negotiations.

Please contact us as your experts for international tax law and double taxation treaties in case of any international tax questions. Please find further information to international tax law and double taxation treaties here on our website. In case of any questions to corporate tax law please do not hesitate to contact us.

Christian Dobner | TLI Steuerberater

The Federal Office of Justice has extended the deadline for the publication of the annual financial statements with the balance sheet date of December 31, 2019 to April 6, 2021.

Shortly before Christmas 2020, the Federal Office of Justice agreed with the Federal Office of Finance that, due to COVID-19, due to the fact that annual financial statements with a balance sheet date of December 31, 2019 and before March 1, 2021, were not published by the deadline by December 31, 2020, no payment proceedings are initiated.

On Friday, February 26, 2021, the Federal Office of Justice published that companies whose statutory period for the publication of accounting documents for the financial year ends on December 31, 2020 with the balance sheet date of December 31, 2019, will not be subject to a payment order in accordance with Section 335 of the Commercial Code (HGB) before April 6, 2021. In this way, the Federal Office of Justice, in renewed coordination with the Federal Ministry of Finance, wants to adequately take into account the interests of those involved in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

When publishing annual financial statements, in addition to the deadline for the publication, there are a few things that need to be observed in terms of content. In particular, since the Accounting Law Modernization Act (BilMoG), published or stored provisional accounting documents are no longer considered exempting. In addition, it is important to pay close attention to what information and items e.g. be published in the balance sheet. The publication of incorrect positions, e.g. at the term of liabilities can have a significant negative impact on the credit rating of the company. Credit institutions often check the creditworthiness of a company by fully automatic checking of the published accounting documents.

The obligation, content and deadline for the publication of annual financial statements must be carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us as your experts for corporate tax law. Please find futher information to corporate tax law here on our website. In case of any questions to corporate tax law please do not hesitate to contact us.

Christian Dobner | TLI Steuerberater

FOCUS “Steuer Spezial” Germany’s top tax firms – We have been recognised by the business magazine FOCUS “Steuer Spezial” as one of the top tax firms in Germany 2020 in the field of VAT consulting. This recognition is the result of recommendations from colleagues and additional qualifications.

The selection of the top tax firms was based on a variety of factors, but primarily the frequency of recommendations from colleagues played a decisive role. Quality assurance was also ensured through telephone interviews in order to consolidate the results of the surveys.

This award not only recognises our high level of professional competence and expertise, but also the continuous recommendation of our colleagues in the industry. It emphasises us as an outstanding tax firm in our field and confirms our commitment to excellent services and professional advice.

We are delighted to have received the “Top Tax Firm 2020” award in the field of VAT consulting.

Inga Stankeviciute | TLI Steuerberater