You can’t blame everything on the Romans. Eventhough they introduced the legal framework ofpartnerships and corporations in Germany and farbeyond, the reason why the taxation of partnershipsis so complex is not their fault. Put simply, onceindividuals with different characteristics are...

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...

Time and again, a decision of the German FederalTax Court (Bundesfinanzhof, or BFH)makes an international tax planner’s heart beatfaster. Such a cause for celebration occurred on May31, 2005, when the BFH repealed its strict view onthe German anti-treaty-shopping rule in the landmarkHilversum...

[...]Major industrial countries tend to follow themainstream, cutting corporate tax rates and simultaneouslybroadening the tax base. Countries on themainstream path also want to tighten antiabuseprovisions such as the thin cap rules and, in Germany,the anti-treaty-shopping rules, described inour...

Being freshmen in this club of TNI correspondents,we promise not to squander readers’precious time. Instead, we are dedicated to presentingtopics that make our columns worthwhile reading.Our focus will be on European and internationaltax law issues analyzed from a German perspective,yet...