Special rules apply in preliminary insolvency proceedings. VAT Law is no exception. If an insolvency debtor receives consideration during the preliminary insolvency proceedings for supplies rendered prior to the beginning of the proceedings, this does not always mean that an estate liability is incurred (which is unfavourable for the insolvency administrator). No estate liability arises if the insolvency debtor’s receivable is discharged through payment by a third-party debtor without the consent or any other involvement on the part of the weak preliminary insolvency administrator. The Federal Fiscal Court confirmed this in its ruling of 29 August, 2024 (V R 17/23). In such cases, the tax office must register its VAT claim in the insolvency schedule.

The long-awaited German Federal Ministry of Finance circular on fuel card transactions has now been published. It clarifies that the Ministry’s circular dated 15 June 2004 on car leasing transactions also applies to fuel card transactions. The long-running uncertainty following the 2019 ECJ judgment in Vega International on the VAT treatment of chain transactions in fuel deliveries with fuel cards has thus been resolved, at least to some extent. Our newsletter includes background information on exactly what is now regulated and what still needs to be considered.

By 31 January 2025, at the latest, platform operators must again submit a DAC7 report to the German Federal Central Tax Office in accordance with the Platform Tax Transparency Act (PStTG). Although the framework conditions for this have changed slightly, compared to the first DAC7 report, the difficul-ties in preparing and submitting the report (eg implementing the electronic in-terface) continue to exist.