Although German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück initially faced massive criticism from the majority CDU/CSU fraction in the German parliament as well as from trade associations for his “Act to Combat Destructive Tax Practices and Tax Fraud”, it now seems that the act will be approved and take effect during this legislative period. Continue →

The world could face high inflation when the global economy recovers, Peer Steinbrück, German Minister of Finance warned the tabloid daily Bild: “So much money is being pumped into the market that capital markets could easily become overwhelmed, resulting in a global period of inflation in the recovery.” Steinbrück is in agreement with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had previously warned that pumping too much money into the market might create trouble during recovery. Continue →

Two and a half years after completion, the draft double taxation convention regarding estates, inheritances and gifts (hereinafter “Inheritance Tax DTC”), signed by Germany and France on 12 October 2006, was finally ratified by both states on 2 April 2009 to thereby take effect on 3 April 2009. The Inheritance Tax DTC with France is the 6th DTC regarding estates, inheritances and gifts which Germany has entered into following treaties with Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. The Inheritance Tax DTC between Germany and Austria was terminated last year due to the Austrian abolishment of inheritance and gift taxes.

This number seems quite small when compared to Continue →

The German Minister of Agriculture has prohibited the cultivation in Germany of the genetically modified corn brand MON 810 produced by the US company Monsanto. This decision is contrary to the European commission’s policy Continue →

Bad days for car producers? Great days for Volkswagen! March 2009 has been the most successful month ever with regard to Volkswagen sales in China. Sales of Volkswagen went up by 6 % from January to March 2009 taking into account Continue →

The discount supermarket Lidl was hit with another data scandal this weekend when employees’ personal documents were found in a public waste paper bin. The first scandal occurred at the end of 2008 when it became known that hidden surveillance cameras had been installed in the employees’ restrooms. The scandal lead to a drastic sales collapse for Lidl and a payment of EUR 1.5 million (approx. USD 1.86 million) in fines.

Unfortunately, Lidl does not seem to have learned its lesson from the first scandal. Continue →

On 26 March 2009, what was supposed to be the greatest reformation of German accounting law within the last 20 years passed the German Bundestag.

However, the draft Act on the Modernisation of Accounting Law (Bilanzrechtsmoder-nisierungsgesetz “BilMoG”) which was finally passed contained little of the original reformation and, after more than 4 years of proceedings and discussions, the following aspects were eliminated from the draft Continue →

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about the use of so-called “bad banks” which are state-controlled banks created to acquire and hold the non-performing assets of banks hit by the financial crisis.

While the use of a bad bank had also been discussed in Germany, the German Minister of Finance, Peer Steinbrück, recently announced in an interview with the German business daily Handelsblatt, that Germany will not create a “bad bank”, noting that the German legislature would not be able to conclude the complex legislative process needed to establish such a bank prior to the September 2009 federal elections.