The Federal Fiscal Court recently published its first two decisions in principal proceedings regarding the settlement of past property developer cases. In its view, it is admissible to assess VAT against the supplier for the past, when the property developer requests a refund. This, however, requires that the supplier has a claim against the property developer for an additional VAT payment, which he can assign. If this is the case, sec 27 para 19 of the German VAT Act cannot be challenged. Thus, property developers continue to accrue interest on their tax refund claim.

The Federal Fiscal Court has decided that the controlling company's insolvency terminates the VAT-group, as does the insolvency of the controlled company. This also applies if the same trustee / insolvency administrator is appointed for the former controlling company and the previous controlled company by the court. This judgment by the Federal Fiscal Court serves to oppose an earlier circular of the Upper Tax Authority Frankfurt/Main regarding the insolvency of the controlling company.

Durch das Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz II hebt der Gesetzgeber die Grenze für Kleinbetragsrechnungen (§ 33 UStDV) von EUR 150 auf EUR 250 an. Die Änderung tritt rückwirkend zum 01.01.2017 in Kraft.