At the federal press conference on July 6, 2020, it was unexpectedly announced that Germany would not postpone notification periods under DAC 6. According to the representative from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Kristina Wogatzki, Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz has explicitly decided against a postponement and thus to start the respective reporting obligations as currently provided for in the law. In contrast to a total of 21 countries that have decided to postpone the registration deadlines, Germany (along with Finland and Austria) thus plays an incomprehensible special role. Against this background, the following deadlines apply (unchanged) for the notification of cross-border tax arrangements according to DAC6 to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt):
- no reporting obligation for tax arrangements whereas the first step was implemented by June 24, 2018;
- by August 31, 2020 for tax planning whereas the first step was implemented from June 25, 2018 and before July 1, 2020; and
- within 30 days for tax planning measures from July 1, 2020.
What does this mean for those who are required to notify, such as tax advisors, lawyers, auditors and financial service providers (that are primarily obliged to report) and for companies in in-house arrangements cases?
Unless the DAC6 reporting obligation is already part of the (tax) compliance system, it is strongly recommended to define and implement the compliance processes promptly (final) in terms of DAC6 in order to avoid possible fines. Setting up an IT-supported reporting process is a fact that is inevitable. This applies in particular if there are reporting requirements in different jurisdictions.
For further information, please contact: Stefan Kienzler (stefan.kienzler (at) taxcomtech.de).