Berlin's Senator for Finance Stefan Evers
© dpa
The tax office for international tax matters is to be launched in December.
This was announced by Senator for Finance Stefan Evers on Thursday at the plenary session in the House of Representatives. Berlin is thus making a significant contribution to greater tax justice. The launch is scheduled for December 4.
The new "Berlin International Tax Office" has considerable tasks ahead of it. In 2019, around 10,000 foreign companies were registered with the Neukölln tax office, which is currently still responsible, said Evers. "As of today, we are already talking about 115,000 companies." The number has grown by leaps and bounds. "110,000 of them are based in Asia," said the senator - so not exactly in the immediate vicinity. "We're talking about really complicated and time-consuming tax processes."
In this respect, the establishment of the new tax office is the right response to current developments. Evers assumed that this would also improve tax revenue. "With highly competent, highly specialized personnel at the new tax office, we will also have a pool of expertise that will help to prevent loopholes from being exploited in the first place," said the CDU politician. This would provide effective support in the fight against international tax crime.
The "Berlin International Tax Office" ("Finanzamt Berlin International") is to be based in Neukölln near the existing tax office. The tax authorities - still under the Green Party's Senator for Finance Daniel Wesener - had already announced its launch in the fall of last year.
In coordination with the other federal states, Berlin is responsible for the registration of companies from over 100 countries that trade in Germany and are subject to VAT but are not based here, such as online retailers. "We are delighted", said Evers, "that Berlin has been chosen to take the lead here and be responsible for the VAT of foreign companies for the whole of Germany.