General Tax Law

General information

Contents

The democratic constitutional state is essentially financed by taxes. In this respect, Germany has an historically evolved multi-tax system with more than 30 types of taxes. Common rules that apply to all taxes are summarized under the concept of general tax law. On the one hand, these include constitutional and EU law requirements for tax legislation and tax collection. On the other hand, the German Tax Code (Abgabenordnung, AO), which regulates tax liability and procedural tax law, is of great importance in connection with legal practice.

The lecture introduces tax law and is the basic course for this legal field. It presents the constitutional principles and foundations of taxation which give structure and order to tax law. In addition, there is an examination of the effects of European Union law on the national tax law systems. The classification of these different sources of law is an indispensable prerequisite for penetrating the complexity of the tax law system. Another focus of the lecture is the general tax debt law regulated in the German Tax Code (AO) which is applicable to all types of taxes. Finally, the main features of procedural tax law are presented. Particular attention is paid to tax administration acts and their error correction. The appeal as the relevant legal remedy is also a subject of the lecture.

Literature

The lecture is mainly based on the textbook by Birk/Dessens/Tappe, Steuerrecht, C.F. Müller-Verlag Heidelberg, which is reprinted annually.

Further readings will be announced in the lecture.