ARTICLE · 23 MAY 2002

252. German Taxation of Satellite Operators

KPMG Germany

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Alexander Loh, KPMG Frankfurt

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

As an update, we note that the appeal of the judgement of 30 April 1997 of the Rhineland-Palatinate Tax Court (EFG 1998, 562; see KPMG German News no. 3/1998 at p. 22 = article no. 152;) was decided by the Federal Tax Court (FTC) in its judgement of 17 February 2000 (I R 130/97 – IStR 2000, 438).

The FTC affirmed the lower court's judgement and endorsed its reasoning. As a consequence, the income derived by the Luxembourg satellite operator was not taxable in Germany. The case involved the Astra 1 A satellite, which broadcast television programmes for reception in Germany.

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