Germany

The Hong Kong Government has said it is looking at potential measures to support the shipping industry following the decision by the US Government to terminate the two territories' agreement that exempted shipping industry income from tax.

On February 8, 2021, the European Commission launched a consultation on a review of the VAT rules for financial and insurance services.

Belgium has agreed with the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, and Germany to extend until March 31, 2021, tax administrative concessions for cross-border workers affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

Germany and Pakistan have deposited their instrument of ratification with the OECD to bring into force the BEPS multilateral instrument for their networks of tax treaties.

Germany and Poland have concluded an agreement to provide relief to cross-border workers who have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions on movement.

Germany has completed the domestic ratification procedures necessary to soon notify the OECD of its intention to bring into effect the BEPS multilateral instrument (BEPS MLI) for its covered double tax treaties.

The OECD has released its annual Consumption Tax Trends report, which highlights that with VAT rates at an all-time high, governments should ensure they have effective VAT frameworks in place to tax e-commerce.

The EU has agreed new rules that will see member states automatically exchange information on income earned by sellers on digital platforms from 2023.

Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to extend the validity of an agreement clarifying the tax arrangements of frontier workers during the COVID-19 pandemic until December 31, 2020.

On September 22, 2020, Germany provided further details about the government's tax policy priorities for its presidency of the European Union.

The European Commission has published its latest VAT gap report, which show that EU countries lost an estimated EUR140bn (USD165.7bn) in VAT revenues in 2018.

On September 2, 2020, the German Ministry of Finance announced that the official value-added tax manual for 2019/20 has been published online.

The French Ministry of Finance confirmed on August 31, 2020, that several tax agreements applying to cross-border workers during the COVID-19 crisis have been extended.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is optimistic that an international agreement on taxing the digital economy will be reached this year.

The European Commission has approved a broader support package, proposed by authorities in Germany, for German airport operators.

On July 29, 2020, the German Federal Cabinet approved a draft tax law including personal income tax relief measures.

On July 16, 2020, the German Ministry of Finance posted answers to frequently asked questions on its website with regards to the temporary value-added tax cut.

On July 13, 2020, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a progress report on the last two years' work of the J5 group of five advanced countries, who are working collaboratively to tackle cross-border tax fraud.

The newly instated German presidency of the European Union will focus on introducing internationally agreed tax rules for digital companies, according to the presidency's policy agenda.

Both houses of the German parliament have now approved the EUR130bn (USD146bn) COVID-19 economic stimulus plan, which includes numerous tax relief measures.

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