According to German law, only legal persons may function as controlled companies. It is also required that the controlled company is subordinate to the controlling company in financial, economic and organizational terms. Now, the ECJ has turned the previous understanding upside down: National law does not correspond with Union law. Furthermore, the previous understanding of the existence of a VAT group by the Federal Fiscal Court was too restrictive. The most important question now is: How can entrepreneurs benefit from this new interpretation of the law?

Taxable persons are in need of a proper proof of export for zero-rated export supplies of goods. To date, the only admissible proof of export for export declarations filed electronically (via ATLAS), has been an electronic confirmation of export. However, on 19 June 2015 the German Federal Ministry of Finance issued a circular, commenting on the preconditions on the basis of which the German tax authorities will accept, for VAT purposes, an electronic proof of export issued by customs authorities of another EU member state.

The settlement of past property developer cases is in full swing. The additional claim of VAT due from the supplier of construction work, as well as the granting of legitimate expectations, are being controversially discussed. The tax court Berlin-Brandenburg was the first to comment on this issue, when it granted legitimate expectation to the supplier. It is seriously doubtful whether sec. 27 para. 19 sentence 2 of the German VAT Act, which excludes legitimate expectation, is compatible with the German Constitution and European law.