Germany is still lagging behind the example set by Austria, which abandoned the German-style fiscal unity in favor of a modern group taxation system two decades ago. Instead of a fundamental reform, the German fiscal unity’s personal scope was subject to an internationalization in the course of the so-called „small fiscal unity reform“ in 2013, explicitly allowing foreign corporations with a German place of management to be fiscal unity members. However, this still requires the conclusion of a legally-effective, German-style profit and loss transfer agreement (PLTA) between the (German) fiscal unity parent and its (dual-resident) fiscal unity member – a legal prerequisite that even called the European Commission to initiate an infringement procedure against Germany. With a focus on the Austro-German peculiarities, Peter Scheuch analyzes the legal prerequisites and consequences of a cross-border fiscal unity.
