On June 1, 2016 on the website of the German Ministry of Finance a law proposal for implementing the changes made to the EU Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (Council Directive 2011/16/EU) and for implementing other BEPS measures as proposed by the OECD into German law was published.

The law proposal a.o. proposes the following:

·        Amending the EU-Amtshilfegesetzes (EU assistance law) regarding the obligation of automatically exchanging information in the field of taxation (tax rulings).

·        Implementation of the G20/OECD recommendations regarding the obligations for multinationals to keep records in the area of transfer pricing and to create a master file and country-specific files (country-by-country reporting), including the implementation of the "secondary mechanism" for multinational companies as required by the amended EU Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation.

·        Amending the EU-Amtshilfegesetzes and implementing the obligation for the automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation with respect to the country-by-country reports as prepared by multinational companies.

·        Amending the Einkommensteuergesetz (Income Tax Act) and Außensteuergesetz (Foreign Tax Act) to eliminate uncertainties in the interpretation and application of double taxation agreements.

·        Authorizing the Federal Ministry of Finance to issue a Decree to call in the "Notifications clauses" that are included in a number of double taxation agreements and that allow Contracting States to start applying the credit method instead of the exemption method to certain income categories.

·        The introduction of a six-year retention period in Paragraph 8, sub 9 of the FATCA-USA-Umsetzungsverordnung vom 23. Juli 2014.

·        Extension of the Finanzkonten-Informationsaustauschgesetzes (Financial Accounts Information Exchange Law) to Treaties the European Union concluded with third countries to automatic exchange of information on financial accounts providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Directive 2014/107/EU.

Click here to the law proposal as available on the website of the German Ministry of Finance, which will open in a new window.

Click here to be forwarded to a press release issued by the German Ministry of Finance in this respect (In the German language).

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