DStV picks apart draft Annual Tax Act 2026, rejects key payroll rule

Germany's draft Jahressteuergesetz 2026Dstv brings detailed adjustments but no real reliefDstv, the Deutsche Steuerberaterverband (DStV) says. In its statement S 08/26Dstv of 20 October 2026, prepared for the Bundestag finance committee hearing on 2 November 2026, the association welcomes EU implementation such as the ViDA package, codified court case law and procedure modernisation, but calls the rest isolated measures that must at least be legally certain and workable.

The new statutory split of a lump purchase price for developed landDstv draws a split verdict. A planned section 6f of the EinkommensteuergesetzDstv would govern apportionment between land and buildingsDstv, and the DStV welcomes priority for the contractual split. But vague exceptions invite fresh disputes, and mandatory use of the Immobilienwertermittlungsverordnung where nothing was agreed is impractical and costly. The association instead wants simpler proof, such as recognised bank valuations, and while it welcomes determining market values as the fallback, it urges wording for accredited valuers that follows the Finance Ministry's letter of 22 February 2023 and the DIN EN ISO/IEC 17024 standard.

Payroll faces a sharper fight over the first workplace. The draft would cut the period that makes an assignment to a workplace permanent from 48 to 24 monthsDstvDstvDstv for domestic postings under section 9DstvDstv, while keeping 48 months for postings abroadDstv. The DStV firmly rejects the cutDstv and wants the proven uniform 48-month period kept for bothDstv. Staff on long-term domestic projects, construction or assembly assignments would be markedly worse off.

The overhaul of the VAT group regime gets qualified support. A planned section 2c of the UmsatzsteuergesetzDstv would require a declaration by the controlling companyDstv and expressly include partnershipsDstv, a clear improvement that can prevent unnoticed groups. But a mere declaration leaves legal uncertainty, so the association wants an application procedure in which the tax office checks the conditionsDstv and confirms the group by ruling. If the declaration model stays, losing group status must apply prospectively only, judged from the date of knowledge, and the transition must say plainly whether existing groups must file a first declaration.

Digital notices are the sharpest conflict. Wider electronic service is welcome in principle, but the chosen service channel must govern, the DStV argues. A planned fiction in section 124 of the AbgabenordnungDstv would make service effective even through the wrong channelDstv, which the association calls cherry-picking by the tax administrationDstv and wants deletedDstv. At minimum, no appeal-deadline detriment may follow an unwanted channel. Existing postal-service requests must remain valid beyond 31 December 2026Dstv, with notice and a proper transition.

On the Bundesrat's proposals the DStV is selective. Tying proof of a shorter useful life to the completion date would shut the door for existing-stock owners, the association argues with constitutional objections, noting the Federal Fiscal Court's 23 January 2024 judgment already frames the proof. Artificial intelligence in tax administration should wait for a separate procedure with practitioners and academics before personal data is processed. The Bundesrat's call to raise the low-value-asset instant write-off thresholdDstv from 800 to 1,200 EuroDstv is welcomed but too timid: the DStV wants 2,500 EuroDstv plus a pooling item for assets from 2,500 to 10,000 EuroDstv, as the independent expert commission on citizen-friendly income tax recommended, to cut red tape and spur investment. Legal basis: Regierungsentwurf eines Jahressteuergesetzes 2026Dstv with draft sections 6f and 9 EStG-E, section 2c UStG-E and sections 122a, 124 and 125 AO-E; DStV-Stellungnahme S 08/26; BR-Drs. 447/26(B).