August 25th, 2009 | by
admin | published in
German Tax News
On 21 July 2009 Germany terminated the Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Turkey for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital which was concluded on 16 April 1985.
On 24 August 2009, the Federal Government announced its reasons for the move, stating that the double taxation convention (“DTC”) was outdated and unbalanced. Germany had entered into negotiations with Turkey to amend the DTC to bring it more in line with the OECD Model Convention Continue →
August 18th, 2009 | by
admin | published in
German Tax News
In the case of Lidl Belgium, decided on 15 May 2008, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) held that the freedom of establishment ensured by the Treaty of Rome does not preclude a Member State from disallowing the deduction by a taxpayer in that state of losses incurred by a permanent establishment of that taxpayer in another Member State. This decision applies to cases in which, by virtue of a double taxation convention, the income of the permanent establishment is taxed in the latter Member State and its losses cannot be used to reduce the taxation of the permanent establishment’s income in later fiscal years.
The ECJ noted that while such a tax treatment is a restriction on the freedom of establishment, since the company would be allowed to deduct the losses of a permanent establishment located in the same Member State as the company itself, it can, however, be justified in light of Continue →
August 10th, 2009 | by
admin | published in
What's going on in Germany?!
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor, announced his plans for the future should the Social Democrats win the general election in September. Steinmeier introduced, as the main aspect of this so-called “Germany Plan”, a concept which would generate a job wonder by creating four million new jobs by 2020, thereby leading to full employment in Germany. While political competitors criticized the plan as being unrealistic, economists and representatives of industry and trade welcomed the concept.
Steinmeier expects to generate a job boom by Continue →
