General Information

On January 1, 2023, the Act on the Reporting Obligation and the Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters by Reporting Platform Operators (Platform Tax Transparency Act, in German: Plattformen-Steuertransparenzgesetz, PStTG) came into force. The Act is part of the Act Implementing Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 (so-called DAC 7) Amending Directive 2011/16/EU on Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Taxation and Modernising Tax Procedural Law (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2730).

The PStTG introduces an obligation for operators of digital platforms (platform operators) to report information on income generated by sellers on these platforms to the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) under certain circumstances. It merely regulates procedural rules with the aim of providing the tax authorities with better access to information in order to obtain knowledge about economic activities of sellers on digital platforms. The PStTG does not contain any substantive regulations and does not affect the other tax laws. In particular, the PStTG has no effect on the laws that concern individual types of tax and contain regulations, for example, on the tax subject, tax object, the assessment basis or the tax rate (e.g. the Income Tax Act, Corporation Tax Act, Trade Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act), according to which the taxation of income or turnover is determined.
In principle, information must be reported both on sellers based in Germany and on sellers based in other European countries.

The Federal Central Tax Office forwards the information received to the competent German tax offices as well as to the competent authorities of those EU Member States in which the sellers are deemed to be resident according to the PStTG. A seller is deemed to be resident in an EU Member State within the meaning of the PStTG if

• he has his registered office (legal entity) or residence (natural persons) in this EU Member State, or
• the tax identification number was issued by this EU Member State, or
• a permanent establishment is located in this EU Member State.

In addition, the Federal Central Tax Office forwards the information received to the competent authorities of those EU Member States in which immovable property is located that is used for the temporary granting of usage and other rights of any kind to immovable property in return for a consideration by sellers.
Furthermore, the Federal Central Tax Office receives information sent by other EU Member States (on sellers deemed to be resident in Germany) which has been reported to the competent authorities by the platform operators there. This information is also forwarded to the competent German tax offices.
The tax evaluation of the data takes place in the tax offices or the competent tax authorities abroad.

Relevant activities

Information must be reported on sellers who provide one of the following so-called relevant activities (using a platform in return for a consideration):

• the temporary granting of usage and other rights of any kind to immovable property (sec. 5 para. 1, cl. 1, no. 1 PStTG)
• the provision of personal services (sec. 5 para. 1, cl. 1, no. 2 PStTG)
• the sale of goods (sec. 5 para. 1, cl. 1, no. 3 PStTG)
• the temporary granting of usage and other rights of any kind to means of transport (sec. 5 para. 1, cl. 1, no. 4 PStTG).

Under certain conditions, sellers are exempt from reporting (sec. 4 para. 5 PStTG). With regard to the de minimis limit for the sale of goods (sec. 4 para. 5 cl. 1 no. 4 PStTG), it is pointed out that an exempt seller only exists if both limits are cumulatively met.

Time frame

The platform operators must collect the information to be reported by December 31 of the respective calendar year (reportable period). The first reportable period begins on January 1, 2023 and ends on December 31, 2023.
The information collected must then be reported to the Federal Central Tax Office by January 31 of the calendar year following the reportable period in accordance with the officially prescribed data set. The first report for the reportable period 2023 must therefore be submitted from January 1, 2024 to January 31, 2024. After receipt by the Federal Central Tax Office, the transmitted information will be forwarded to the other EU Member States by the end of February (for the first time by February 29, 2024).