Together with the software house Schleupen AG, the law firm Becker Büttner Held (BBH) has developed a tax compliance management tool that meets all criteria of a tax compliance management system as specified by the tax authority. The tool combines the professional and technical expertise of two market leaders in one product making it easier for companies to ensure that they act in line with tax requirements.

The key component of the tool is a comprehensive list of obligations under tax law that companies have to meet. The list of obligations comprises the relevant corporate taxes, among others, income tax, corporation tax, trade tax, value added tax (VAT), wage tax and social security contributions as well as the electricity and the energy tax.

This list of obligations is incorporated into Schleupen AG’s software tool R2C_TAX COMPLIANCE and will be kept up to date by BBH to reflect current legislation and case law. As the list of obligations is made up of various legal modules, the tax compliance management tool can be customised according to the needs of individual companies.

As part of a risk minimisation strategy, the tax compliance management tool ensures that all structures, work processes and matters relevant in terms of tax law are monitored and recorded. This way, any infringement of requirements under tax law can be detected and remedied by the company. In an event of non-compliance, the tax compliance management tool will be considered a piece of circumstantial evidence proving that the company did not act negligently or deliberately. At best, actions classified as relevant in terms of criminal tax law can thus be ruled out and the applicability of sec. 153 Fiscal Code of Germany (Abgabenordnung – AO) regarding the correction of an error is conceivable.

In the future, the list of obligations is to be expanded so as to also include other areas of law relevant in terms of compliance, e.g. data protection and labour/employment law. The overall aim is an integrated platform through which companies can manage compliance for all relevant business activities.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Ines Zenke
Lawyer, Partner
phone +49 (0)30 611 28 40-179
ines.zenke@bbh-online.de

Visit Becker Büttner Held at www.die-bbh-gruppe.de, www.bbh-blog.de or twitter.com/BBH_online.