This category includes the following law in particular:

Annual German Tax Act 2024 (“Jahressteuergesetz 2024”): The Annual German Tax Act 2024 includes, among others,

1. the possibility of transferring assets at book value between partnerships with identical shareholdings;
2. regulations regarding the Trade Tax liability of passive permanent establishment income and Trade Tax on indirect sale or cessation of shares in the acquiring partnership;
3. treatment of withdrawals of assets during the retroactive period after tax book neutral contributions;
4. restriction of the exception from retroactive taxation of the contribution gain II ("Einbringungsgewinn II") in case of tainted shares (no retroactive taxation only in case the shares received in the course of share-for-share exchange are sold at fair market value);
5. regulation on when, for the purposes of taxation of share deals with RETT, a property belongs to the assets of a company (no more double real estate attribution; see our Newsflash May 2024).
6. Implementation of a group clause regarding tax-neutral employee equity investments (also impacting MPPs, see our Newsflash November 2024)

If a legislative resolution is not passed by the current Parliament before its (premature) dissolution, the corresponding procedure must be reintroduced in its entirety in the new Parliament (principle of discontinuity). The implementation of procedures that have not yet been finally discussed by the Parliament seems currently very unlikely.

In addition, the Parliament's Finance Committee decided in its meeting dated 13 November 2024 to postpone all decisions on draft laws and applications under its responsibility (until further notice).

This category includes the following law in particular:

• Tax Development Act (“Steuerfortentwicklungsgesetz”): The implementation of the Tax Development Act in its current form is very unlikely. Even if the Parliament's Finance Committee clears the way for further discussions on the law following the vote of confidence by the Chancellor, it is reportedly to be expected that the controversial introduction of a notification requirement for domestic tax structurings (similar to a DAC 6 notification applicable to cross-border transactions) will be removed from the law and – if at all – only the measures supported by a majority of all factions (including among others, improvement of tax depreciation conditions, expansion of the R&D allowance by increasing the assessment base, further tax incentives of e-mobility) will be implemented.
• The introduction of a notification requirement for domestic tax structurings as part of the Tax Development Act was already criticized by the FDP faction before the coalition negotiations with the SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. The CDU/CSU faction also repeatedly emphasized its rejection of this notification requirement.

The implementation of procedures in this legislative period that have not yet been introduced to the Parliament is almost impossible due to timing reasons.

This category includes, among others:

Law on the Adjustment of the Minimum Tax Act and Other Measures (“Mindeststeueranpassungsgesetz”), including, among others,

1. implementation of the OECD Administrative Guidance from December 2023 with regard to the baseline amount in Country by Country Reporting Safe Harbour,
2. the conditions for so-called Push Down Accounting and hybrid arrangements, as well as
3. the handling of the mere option to recognize an excess of deferred tax assets over deferred tax liabilities within the scope of the taxes covered.

DAC8 Implementation Act (“DAC8-Umsetzungsgesetz”), including, among others, a law for the implementation of the EU directive DAC 8, which includes regulations on due diligence and reporting obligations for providers of crypto services and the automatic exchange of the reported information.

Second Future Financing Act (“Zweites Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz”), including, among others, an increase of the maximum amount for the transfer of built in gains from the sale of shares in corporations to reinvestments (see our Newsflash September 2024).