ARTICLE · 21 MAY 2002

250. 2002 Changes in VAT Law

KPMG Germany

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Claudia Hillek, KPMG Munich

For editorial cut-off date, disclaimer, and notice of copyright see end of this article.

Important changes were made to Germany's VAT law (officially the Turnover Tax Act or Umsatzsteuergesetz – UStG) with effect from 1 January 2002. These changes are contained in the VAT Anti-Fraud Act (Steuerverkürzungsbekämpfungsgesetz) and the 2001 Tax Amendment Act (Steueränderungsgesetz 2001). Non-VAT aspects of these bills are discussed in articles in KPMG German News no. 1/2002 p. 25 and 39 (articles nos. 246 and 249).

1. VAT Anti-Fraud Act

1.1 Overview

The VAT Anti-Fraud Act is aimed at schemes involving wrongful credit (deduction) of input VAT, in particular fraudulent practices by which input tax credits are claimed for VAT that is invoiced, but never paid. To curtail such practices, the VAT control and security systems are tightened. The risk of tax revenue shortfalls is reduced by making refunds of excess creditable VAT contingent on the posting of

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