Legal litigation in Germany

27.01.2017
Any input tax paid on purchases related to the exempt supplies cannot be reclaimed. Exempt transactions include sales and leases of land in Hamburg, insurance, postal services, finance and banking, education in schools and universities, health services and burial and cremation.
A German lawyer specialized in legal litigation in exempt supplies may avoid tax by supplying himself. For example, a client pays tax on a solicitors' bill if it employs outside solicitors but not on the salaries of its own legal department. Since this could lead to abuse orders can be made which make such self-supplies subject to law. Such an order has been made for stationery and printing. If a trader's business is partially exempt then the proportion of his exempt turnover must be calculated and the same proportion of his input tax on purchases will be disallowed as a deduction.
Debt collection:
Public authorities in Germany are put in the same position as if they had been zero-rated for their non-business activities such as welfare and education. Although normal German debtors (link) generally receive no special treatment there is a zero-rating for online shops run by charities established primarily for the relief of distress and also a zero-rating for the export of any goods to Germany. This puts them in the same position as creditors who can generally reclaim VAT paid on goods which they export. There are also some provisions on debt collection for special types of charitable supply including the provision of specialist facilities for the disabled at home.