And indeed – at least in Germany – the train of economic growth kept rolling throughout May unabated (as hoped for at the end of March) – now reaching levels never seen before in ALL of the areas:
BGH: Tax advisors liability tightened
In a ruling issued at the end of January 2017, the German Federal Supreme Court (“Bundesgerichshof“, “BGH“) has tightened the requirements for the liability of tax advisors in a corporate crisis.
Taxes in turnaround – swift legislative action
Only one month after the surprising decision of the German Federal Tax Court (“Bundesfinanzhof” (BFH)) on the so-called “Decree on Turnaround” (“Sanierungserlass”), the German Bundesrat had already proposed a new statutory regulation and also the German higher fiscal authorities (OFD Frankfurt) has issued a directive on how to deal with applications for the waiver on the taxation of “turnaround profits”. And now the German Federal Government (represented by the Federal Ministry of Finance, BMF) and the German Parliament seemingly want to set the pace:
Provisions to deal with group insolvencies introduced
While the Grand Coalition has so far only dealt stepmotherly with the third stage of the insolvency law reform during the now expiring legislative period, it’s actions seems seem to get pace at the very last minute as the recent introduction of a “group insolvency law ” into the German Insolvency Act illustrates.
Recent developments on taxes in turnaround
Contrary to my belief, the German legislator seems to have understood the gravity of the situation with which the recent decision of the German Federal Tax Court (“Bundesfinanzhof” (BFH)) has left the turnaround community in dealing with companies in crisis. The German Bundesrat as well as the fiscal authorities reacted rather quickly, unlikely as it may have seemed.
The German Economy in March 2017 – silver lining ahead
After all these questionmarks, doubts and armageddon-foresights (cf. for February here) now that: Hope! First, we all survived the 15th of March 2017 – despite the doomsday-sayers, neither the debt-ceiling nor the rate-hike in the US nor the Dutch elections could derail the “economic train” which seems to get momentum even beyond Germany now. But, as always, I am getting ahead of myself. So, let’s see what’s behind the (German) curtain for this month:
Reform of German insolvency avoidance law
In the end, the reform went through unexpectedly fast: After a first reading in the German parliament in January 2015 the intended reform of the German insolvency avoidance law has been put on the back burner due to discussions on possible fiscal privileges. Now, the Bundestag has adopted the reform rather suddenly on 16 February 2017 – without further discussion and without fiscal privileges.
The German economy in February 2017 – too good to be true?
Germany’s economy seems to get stronger by the month – falling unemployment, rising GDP, governmental surplus, you name it. So, is really everything glossy and any other view merely a doomsday-sayer’s paranoia? Let’s check: