Germany is Europe’s most powerful economy. Its companies are involved in significant global investments, but it also attracts foreign investors. For non-German business leaders, understanding tax implications in Germany is crucial for navigating a complex landscape. It’s often hard to understand the intricacies of German tax law, making it difficult to correctly identify the tax impact of activities in home and source states.
Writing in English, Dr. Jochen Bahns – a partner at Flick Gocke Schaumburg – provides a detailed and practical guide to help investors navigate this multifaceted environment. With around 1,200 pages, the handbook outlines the core aspects of German tax law in a domestic and international context. It includes English translations of key tax regulations, along with explanatory examples and references to Federal Tax Court case law and tax authority announcements. Dr. Bahns’ comprehensive guide fills a crucial gap in English-language resources, addressing the needs of cross-border legal and tax professionals, businesses, and investors.
Key aspects of German tax law – in compact form
The book offers a clear explanation of income tax, corporation tax and trade tax as well as the taxation of partnerships both domestically and abroad. It also describes core areas such as the disposal of business assets and private assets, tax group requirements, debt financing and loss deduction from a tax perspective, taxes withheld at source (e.g. capital withholding tax, wage tax) and the new minimum tax.
The book also deals with tax aspects of inbound and outbound activities (via permanent establishments, partnerships and corporations), M&A transactions (asset deals and share deals) and reorganizations both inside and outside the German Reorganization Act. In this section, the basic aspects of reorganization law, commercial law and tax law are first set out and then explained using examples.
Detailed overviews of VAT law, trade tax law, inheritance tax law and tax procedural law (e.g. appeal proceedings, tax audits, binding tax rulings) and the basic principles of corporate law for the most important German legal forms supplement the income tax explanations.
The handbook also includes 150 FAQs and English translations of key German tax law provisions (e.g. Sec. 3 no. 40 of the Personal Income Tax Act, Sec. 4h of the Personal Income Tax Act, Sec. 8c of the Corporate Income Tax Act, Secs. 14-17 of the Corporate Income Tax Act and Secs. 8 and 9 of the Trade Tax Act. The Reorganization Tax Act is translated in full. Numerous examples with notes on solutions, drawn largely from recent Federal Tax Court cases and announcements by the tax authorities, make the complex topics easier to understand.
The "Taxation of Enterprises in Germany" guide is part of the "German Law Accessible" series published by C.H. Beck. It is now available online at:
Taxation of Enterprises in Germany | C.H. Beck
Der Autor
Dr. Jochen Bahns is a lawyer and tax advisor at Flick Gocke Schaumburg’s Bonn office. He has advised domestic and foreign family-owned businesses, groups and listed companies on domestic and international group and corporate tax law for more than 20 years, focusing particularly on transactions and reorganizations.
