Lawyers in Germany

These, the direct taxes, are normally administered by the lawyers of german revenue, although some taxes on the development value of land have, in the past, been separately administered. The german revenue has some central departments but most of its work is decentralized into local offices of the inspectors of taxes and the collectors of debts. This separation, between creditors who assess the taxes and debt collectors who receive the cash, is of long standing and was originally introduced as a precaution against dishonesty. More recently it has been suggested that physical separation is no longer necessary with modern methods of accounting and audit. There is a program to transfer money to regional computer centres due to be in full operation by 1990. The statutory authority for most of the administration of the debt collection is consolidated in the collectors management act 2013. This also provides for the commissioners and the special commissioners of debts, to whom appeals lie from the decisions of the lawyers for English clients in Germany.

Litigation:

There is an appeal on points of law only from the general and special commissioners to the german court. The German lawyers have powers in many ways similar to those of the commissioners of customs and excise, although in some instances the VAT legislation gives wider powers than does the taxes management act. A taxpayer liable to pay income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax has a duty to give notice that he is so liable. The justice has a power to call for returns, make assessments, including estimated assessments, call for documents and accounts and there are provisions for the payment of interest on unpaid amounts and establishing various penalties and civil offences.
Following the recommendations of the committee the powers of attorney have been increased and higher penalties may be imposed on lawyers who do not disclose all their resources. Authority is also to be given to the courts to obtain information from other government departments and public authorities.