In recent years, German lawmakers have developed many activities to clarify tax evasion abroad. An essential part of this was the law on the exchange between different states on financial accounts in tax matters. The states concerned have undertaken to inform each other about the accounts of the respective citizens. Following an announcement by the German Federal Ministry of Finance on 29.01.2019, this list has now been updated.
In the last few days there have been several press reports that the large criminal chamber of the Duisburg Regional Court is negotiating with the parties involved in the proceedings, i.e. in particular with the public prosecutors and the defence lawyers, to discontinue the so-called Loveparade proceedings against the payment of a monetary imposition in accordance with § 153a StPO – perhaps even without a monetary imposition in accordance with § 153 StPO.
In June 2016, an assassination was carried out in a shopping centre near Munich’s Olympic Park. The perpetrator David S. shot a total of nine people before he killed himself. In January 2019, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court) ruled that the seller of the weapon used by David S. in his amok run was liable to prosecution for negligent killing.
In January 2010, Hamburger Privatbank Warburg filed a civil lawsuit against Deutsche Bank at the Frankfurt Regional Court. The institute wants recourse for around 46 million euros, which the Hamburg tax office is demanding back from the Warburg Bank. Background is the Cum-Ex-Scandal, which moves since some years the minds of the German taxpayers and the experts for tax criminal law.
By order of 29 August 2018 (file number (4) 151 AuslA 59/17 (40/18)), the Berlin Court of Appeal (Kammergericht) clarified that extradition to Turkey is inadmissible if there is a threat of prosecution for a political offence.
A special chamber will be established at the Cologne Regional Court at the beginning of 2019. In future, this chamber will be primarily responsible for cases involving sexual offences, i.e. rape or sexual abuse.
According to recent reports in the Handelsblatt, in January 2019 the public prosecutor’s office brought charges against 19 people accused of evading taxes
In January 2018, the Göttinger Tageblatt reported on a criminal case against a lawyer. The lawyer is suspected of having evaded taxes. He is said to have declared private expenses for a finca on Mallorca and his wife’s Porsche as business expenses.
For many people, offering Airbnb accommodation has so far been just a harmless extra income. This can change if the tax office starts to be interested in the income from renting the property.
