The Implementation of the D.A.C.6 E.U. Directive in Germany

Volume 8 No 2    /    Read Article

By Petra Eckl and Felix Schill (Guest Author)

D.A.C.6 introduced a new reporting obligation for potentially aggressive cross-border tax arrangements in order to provide the tax authorities with information to use in identifying and examining taxpayers implementing these plans.

The Directive was implemented into German law in 2019, effective as of July 1, 2020, with an additional retroactive obligation to include all open tax arrangements that were set up from June 24, 2018. Germany did not elect optional postponement of the D.A.C.6 implementation due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, it was never enacted the implementation of Directive.

Because German tax authorities have not yet published the final version of the administrative, commentary by German tax advisers have filled the gap pointing out open issues for which guidance should be provided. In their article for Insights entitled “The Implementation of the D.A.C.6 E.U. Directive in Germany,” Petra Eckl and Felix Schill of GSK Stockmann in Frankfurt, address the relevant issues, including covered taxes, tax arrangements, cross-border element, intermediary, hallmarks, main benefit test, and privilege.

The article is part of a nine-country survey of D.A.C.6 implementation published in the March edition of Insights, the international tax journal of Ruchelman P.L.L.C.   See more →