VAT group requirements: a German fairy tale

Abstract

Germany's VAT group requirements have been compared with fairy tale Snow White. Germany is well known as the land of poets and thinkers. The country contributed an enormous amount to philosophy, learning, music, literature and independent thought. An important piece of literature was added by the Grimm brothers in the early 1800s. Their fairy tale collection served up life as generations of Central Europeans knew it: capricious and often cruel. Fairy tales seem to be in the German's blood. The shilly-shallying of the German tax authorities and jurisdiction as regards their position on the requirements of VAT grouping appears to be likewise cranky and somewhat reminds on the fairy tales passed on by the Grimm brothers.