Proposed amendments of reporting obligations for global minimum tax

Corporate groups subject to the global minimum tax must generally submit a minimum tax report to the competent tax authorities in each country that has implemented the global minimum tax and where the group is represented by a company or permanent establishment.

Purpose of the DAC9 Directive

The OECD had already developed a standard template for a GloBE Information Return, or GIR for short, for this reporting (OECD, Report of 17 July 2023). The EU Commission intends to transpose this standard template into EU law with the draft directive presented on 28 October 2024 (known as the DAC9 Directive).

In addition, the draft directive is intended to define the framework for the exchange of information between the EU Member States, so that the requirement to submit the GIR in different EU Member States could be eliminated. For these purposes, the use of a uniform data format is to be specified so that the reports can be exchanged automatically between the EU Member States involved. The possibility of further queries between the EU Member States should also be coordinated.

Note: The draft DAC9 Directive still must go through the EU legislative procedure. If the directive ultimately becomes effective, the EU Member States shall transpose its content into national law by 31 December 2025.

Reporting obligations in Germany

Entities of a GloBE group located in Germany must submit a minimum tax report - or according to the OECD a GIR - to the Federal Central Tax Office. If there is more than one group entity located in Germany, one of these entities can submit the minimum tax report on behalf of the others.

In addition to GIR submission requirements German minimum tax declaration obligations must be considered. GloBE group entities located in Germany form a so-called minimum tax group within the meaning of the German Minimum Tax Act (Mindeststeuergesetz). Within a German minimum tax group only one entity (the head of the German minimum tax group, so-called Gruppenträger) is obliged to file the minimum tax declaration with the German tax authorities (in general the local tax office) and to pay top-up taxes in Germany, if any. If located in Germany, the UPE of the GloBE group is also the head of the German minimum tax group. In case of a non-German UPE, a German parent entity is the head of the German minimum tax group, if this entity is the parent entity of all other German group entities. Otherwise, the non-domestic UPE can determine the head of the German minimum tax group. A top-up tax payable by the head of the German minimum tax group may trigger compensation payments between German group entities. This could also impact the recognition of to-up tax accruals and should be checked in detail.

The head of the German minimum tax group can also be nominated to submit the minimum tax report to the Federal Central Tax Office.

Note: On 17 October 2024 the German tax authorities published guidance for the notification of the head of the German minimum tax group. The notification must be submitted no later than two months after the end of a tax period, thus for the first time by 28 February 2025. The technological framework for the electronic notification is expected to be established by the German tax authorities as of 2 January 2025.