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<p>In an international comparison, Germany is a high-tax country. At around 30 %, the nominal tax burden for German corporations is almost ten percentage points above the EU average. Some assume that corporations‘ actual tax burdens are significantly reduced due to tax planning and profit shifting. However, this article shows, based on information from corporation and trade tax statistics, the real tax burden can be five to twelve percentage points higher than the nominal burden due to incomplete loss offsetting, the limited deduction of financing expenses and the (partial) taxation of corporate dividends.</p>
</abstract>

In an international comparison, Germany is a high-tax country. At around 30 %, the nominal tax burden for German corporations is almost ten percentage points above the EU average. Some assume that corporations‘ actual tax burdens are significantly reduced due to tax planning and profit shifting. However, this article shows, based on information from corporation and trade tax statistics, the real tax burden can be five to twelve percentage points higher than the nominal burden due to incomplete loss offsetting, the limited deduction of financing expenses and the (partial) taxation of corporate dividends.

The Income Tax Burden on Corporations in Germany

Wirtschaftsdienst

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Die Ertragsteuerbelastung von Kapitalgesellschaften in Deutschland

In an international comparison, Germany is a high-tax country. At around 30 %, the nominal tax burden for German corporations is almost ten percentage points...

The Income Tax Burden on Corporations in Germany

Published Online: Nov 24, 2023

Page range: 776 - 782

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/wd-2023-0212

© 2023 Reinald Koch, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.