112. Requirement Of Bookkeeping In Germany

KPMG Germany Webpage
Click on the above link to visit the KPMG Germany webpage on the Mondaq website
For disclaimer and copyright see end of this article.

In article no. 87, we reported on a recent decision of the European Court of Justice (15 May 1997 - IStR 1997, 366) holding that it violates EU law for a member state to require the domestic branch establishment of an entity with its legal seat in another EU country to keep books in the member state in accordance with this member state's domestic law in order to qualify for a net operating loss carryforward or carryback. We commented that this decision casts doubt on the validity of sec. 50 (1) sentence 3 EStG and sec. 146 (2) AO.

The Duesseldorf Regional Tax Office recently issued an administrative order dated 2 September 1997 (DB 1997, 1896) providing guidance to the tax offices under its jurisdiction as to how to respond to the requests of international corporations for relief from sec. 146 (2) AO, which requires books to