Following a six month long discussion with the German associations of banks and the investment management industry, the German Ministry of Finance issued an ordinance on the application of the rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) agreed between Germany and the United States and set forth in the intergovernmental agreement on FATCA (IGA) (the “Ordinance”) on November 3, 2015. The discussion with the industry results in various amendments to the draft of the Ordinance previously published in June 2015. This Newsletter will specifically address the deviations to the draft Ordinance and addresses certain issues that have yet to be clarified by the German financial authorities.
On 9 December 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its judgment in the Fiscale Eenheid case (C-595/13). According to this judgment, the VAT exemption for the management of investment funds may also apply to risk diversified (closed ended) funds investing in real estate, provided these funds are subject to specific state supervision. However, the actual management of the immovable property is not VAT-exempt as that activity is not specific to the business of undertakings for collective investments.
On 11 November 2015, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities EBA, EIOPA and ESMA presented drafts of several technical standards. The Joint Committe presented the draft regulatory technical standards relating to key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) for the purpose of public consultation. The drafts of the implementing technical standards with regard to the allocation of credit assessments of external credit rating agencies to the scale of credit quality steps under CRD IV and Solvency II are final. They were submitted to the European Commission for approval.
