Germany

Germany's Rankings
CategoryRankScore
Overall Rank1667.19
Corporate Taxes2749.75
Individual Taxes2850.48
Consumption Taxes1174.38
Property Taxes1168.83
Crossborder Taxes689.96

Germany ranks 16th overall on the 2021 International Tax Competitiveness Index, one place worse than in 2020.


Strengths

  • The VAT rate of 19 percent is near the OECD average (19.2 percent) and the VAT compliance burden is relatively low.
  • Germany has a broad tax treaty network, with 96 countries.
  • Inventory can receive Last-In-First-Out treatment, the most neutral treatment of inventory costs.

Weaknesses

  • Germany has the fifth highest corporate income tax rate among OECD countries, at 29.9 percent.
  • The personal income tax is complex with an associated compliance burden of 134 hours-the third highest among OECD countries.
  • Companies are limited in the amount of net operating losses they can use to offset income on future or previous tax returns.

Learn more about the tax system in Germany

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