Taxation

Taxes: an international comparison

This article provides basic international comparisons of certain major tax types. The comparisons cover the member states of the European Union plus several additional advanced economies (the United States, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Norway) and generally reflect the state of the law in these countries as of end 2017.

External Tax Relations

This page offers information on German legislation relating to external tax relations, especially transfer pricing. It provides working translations of a range of documents in the field of external tax relations legislation.

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International tax law

Germany aims to prevent both the double taxation and the double non-taxation of individuals and companies. Everyone has to pay their fair share of tax – in their place of residence or where they conduct their business activities.

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Fiscal Code

Working translation of the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung), which brings together the rules applying to all taxes as a compendium of general tax law. The Fiscal Code sets out the basic rules on how a tax is determined, to whom the tax applies, and when the tax is to be paid.

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20 May 2019

Simplifying tax assessment for non-resident pensioners

The Retirement Income Act, which came into effect on 1 January 2005, changed the way pensions are taxed. As a result of these changes, more and more pensioners are liable to pay tax, even if they live outside Germany. In the past, dealing with pensioners living abroad posed special challenges for the revenue administration, not least due to language barriers.

27 March 2019

Germany and Netherlands reaffirm their commitment to combating tax avoidance

On 27 March 2019, German finance minister Olaf Scholz met Menno Snel, State Secretary for Finance at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. In a joint statement, the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to combating tax avoidance by agreeing and implementing the OECD and EU standards on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

6 February 2019

Interdisciplinary conference: “The future of the data economy”

On 19 November 2018 the Federal Ministry of Finance hosted a conference that brought together selected experts from academia, the business community, civil society, public administration, journalism and professional associations. They engaged in a comprehensive discussion on what actions need to be taken and what options are available to ensure a smoothly functioning data economy.