Foreign partners in German partnerships shouldtake note of the new statutory treatment of specialpayments (Sondervergütungen) now codified in section50d paragraph 10 of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz,or EStG). The question iswhether these special payments qualify as businessprofits...

It was a close call, but eventually the German legislativebody managed to save the Inheritance andGift Tax Act (Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuergesetz)from being automatically abolished. In fact, abolishingthe inheritance tax is not an uncommon measure inCentral Europe. As of August 1, 2008,...

In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, theprotagonist tames his beloved one. Lately, Germanpolitics has presented The Taming of the Heuschrecken(grasshoppers). Heuschrecken is the politically incorrectdescription for private equity companies, so named byFranz Müntefering, the leader...

Germany passed legislation on September 19 thatmodifies the GmbH Act (GmbH-Gesetz), the InsolvencyAct (Insolvenzordnung), and the Stock CompanyAct (Aktiengesetz). The legal measure, called MoMiG(Gesetz zur Modernisierung des GmbH-Rechts und zurBekämpfung von Missbräuchen), will enter into...

International tax law is going through a period ofremarkable change. Trends come and go frequently;however, three trends have been steady and durable inthe last years.[...]

In this article, we use the expression ‘‘holding haven’’to describe a tax jurisdiction with a very attractivelegal framework for holding companies. Holdinghaven regimes are more sophisticated thanconventional tax haven regimes, demanding more infrastructureand business activities....

It used to be almost certain that the European Courtof Justice would follow the opinion of the advocategeneral in its judgment, but those days are gone. Thelatest examples of this change in heart are ColumbusContainer (C-298/05) and Lidl Belgium (C-414/06). (Forthe ECJ judgment in Columbus...

Some consider the issues in the European Court ofJustice’s Lidl Belgium (C-414/06) case to be a questionof symmetry in tax law. Others call the case‘‘Marks & Spencer revisited on the branch level.’’ In fact,both statements are correct. The question is whetherthe country of the head...

Not all fruits are healthy; some fruits are poisonous.German prosecutors must wonder which oftheir collected ‘‘fruits’’ they can use against the hundredsof individuals that could be indicted for failing todeclare savings in Liechtenstein. What could turn outto be the biggest tax evasion...