No doubt Christopher Columbus would have feltshortchanged if he knew the continent he discovereddoes not carry his name. In 1507, when the cartographerMartin Waldseemüller designed his famousworld map, he searched for a name for the Terra Nova(New World) and chose America, after the...

The Latin principle pacta sunt servanda (‘‘agreementsmust be kept’’) serves as a cornerstone of socialinteraction, peace, and justice. If a breach of contractdid not have some sort of ramification, the motivationto stick to the stipulations of the treaty would decreasegreatly, the...

Many of our previous columns dealt with theframework and the aftermath of the major corporatetax reform (Unternehmenssteuerreformgesetz) in2008. The reform included a fundamental modificationof the German thin cap rule, or Zinsschranke (see TaxNotes Int’l, July 16, 2007, p. 263, Doc...

The tax issue causing uproar in Germany and Switzerlandhas all the ingredients for a good story. Itis about tax law, those who break it, and the ultimatequestion whether the government itself is infringing onthe law when buying stolen data. Moreover, it is aboutthe opinion of the vast majority...

The fight against tax havens has caused some majordistortions in the relationship between Germanyand Switzerland. Similar to the approach used in theUnited States in the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, Germanyintensified its measures to prevent tax evasion byits own citizens starting with a German...