{"id":1594,"date":"2026-10-09T05:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T03:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/?p=1594"},"modified":"2026-10-09T05:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T03:03:32","slug":"knp-840-d77855303f31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/knp-840-d77855303f31\/","title":{"rendered":"Vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure lea\u00adding to immu\u00adni\u00adty from pro\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adon: Fede\u00adral Cham\u00adber of Tax Advi\u00adsers warns against its abolition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Anyo\u00adne who has made a mista\u00adke with the tax office can, under cer\u00adtain con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adons, vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adri\u00adly report them\u00adsel\u00adves to the aut\u00adho\u00adri\u00adties in Ger\u00adma\u00adny and ther\u00adeby avo\u00adid pro\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adon. This mecha\u00adnism is curr\u00adent\u00adly under poli\u00adti\u00adcal scru\u00adti\u00adny. As part of an action plan to com\u00adbat tax and finan\u00adcial crime, the\u00adre are dis\u00adcus\u00adsions about abo\u00adli\u00adshing vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure with immu\u00adni\u00adty from pro\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adon in its cur\u00adrent form. The Fede\u00adral Cham\u00adber of Tax Advi\u00adsers (BStBK) has now spo\u00adken out cle\u00adar\u00adly against this pro\u00adpo\u00adsal in a state\u00adment dated 2 Octo\u00adber&nbsp;2026.<\/p>\n<h2>What is a voluntary disclosure that leads to immunity from prosecution?<\/h2>\n<p>Vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure, which exempts the tax\u00adpay\u00ader from cri\u00admi\u00adnal lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty, is gover\u00adned by the Ger\u00adman Fis\u00adcal Code. It enables tax\u00adpay\u00aders to cor\u00adrect incor\u00adrect or incom\u00adple\u00adte tax returns on their own initia\u00adti\u00adve, to pay the out\u00adstan\u00adding tax and, in doing so, to avo\u00adid cri\u00admi\u00adnal pro\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adon. It is cru\u00adcial that the dis\u00adclo\u00adsure is made in full and vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adri\u00adly, befo\u00adre the aut\u00adho\u00adri\u00adties take action of their own accord.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the BStBK criticising?<\/h2>\n<p>The BStBK empha\u00adsi\u00ads\u00ades that both busi\u00adnesses and pri\u00adva\u00adte indi\u00advi\u00addu\u00adals ope\u00adra\u00adte in an incre\u00adasing\u00adly com\u00adplex tax envi\u00adron\u00adment. Par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly for small and medi\u00adum-sized enter\u00adpri\u00adses, it is vir\u00adtual\u00adly impos\u00adsi\u00adble to rule out every error or mis\u00adjud\u00adge\u00adment from the out\u00adset, despi\u00adte careful inter\u00adnal pro\u00adce\u00addu\u00adres and effec\u00adti\u00adve tax com\u00adpli\u00adance. Tax law issues are some\u00adti\u00admes only reco\u00adg\u00adnis\u00aded retro\u00ads\u00adpec\u00adtively or chan\u00adge as a result of new case&nbsp;law.<\/p>\n<p>In the Chamber\u2019s view, the exis\u00adting regu\u00adla\u00adti\u00adons strike an important balan\u00adce: anyo\u00adne who rea\u00adli\u00adses they have made a mista\u00adke and dis\u00adc\u00adlo\u00adses it of their own accord should not imme\u00addia\u00adte\u00adly face cri\u00admi\u00adnal pro\u00adcee\u00addings. This pro\u00admo\u00adtes tax com\u00adpli\u00adance and encou\u00adra\u00adges vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure, rather than con\u00adce\u00adal\u00ading mistakes.<\/p>\n<h2>What does this mean for clients?<\/h2>\n<p>For pri\u00adva\u00adte indi\u00advi\u00addu\u00adals and busi\u00adnesses, vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure \u2013 which leads to immu\u00adni\u00adty from pro\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adon \u2013 is a signi\u00adfi\u00adcant tool under cri\u00admi\u00adnal tax law. It offers the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to resol\u00adve a dif\u00adfi\u00adcult situa\u00adti\u00adon on one\u2019s own initia\u00adti\u00adve. Should this mecha\u00adnism be abo\u00adlished or signi\u00adfi\u00adcant\u00adly rest\u00adric\u00adted, even errors made in good faith could result in con\u00adsider\u00ada\u00adb\u00adly more serious legal con\u00adse\u00adquen\u00adces than has pre\u00advious\u00adly been the&nbsp;case.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure must be com\u00adple\u00adte and cover all incor\u00adrect information.<\/li>\n<li>It must be sub\u00admit\u00adted befo\u00adre an exter\u00adnal audit or search begins.<\/li>\n<li>The eva\u00added tax, inclu\u00adding inte\u00adrest, must be paid retrospectively.<\/li>\n<li>In the case of lar\u00adger sums of tax eva\u00added, a penal\u00adty surchar\u00adge is also payable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The poli\u00adti\u00adcal pro\u00adcess is not yet com\u00adple\u00adte. Whe\u00adther the aboli\u00adti\u00adon will go ahead, and if so in what form, remains to be seen. For anyo\u00adne who is unsu\u00adre whe\u00adther their tax returns need cor\u00adrec\u00adting, it is worth see\u00adking tax advice at an ear\u00adly stage. This is becau\u00adse the opti\u00adon to make a vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure to avo\u00adid pen\u00adal\u00adties is only available for as long as it is pro\u00advi\u00added for by&nbsp;law.<\/p>\n<div id=\"knp-source-attribution\">\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haufe.de\/steuern\/gesetzgebung-politik\/abschaffung-der-strafbefreienden-selbstanzeige_168_699748.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hau\u00adfe:&nbsp;Tax<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"knp-ai-disclosure\">\n<p>This post and the accom\u00adpany\u00ading image were crea\u00adted with the help of AI and have been edi\u00adto\u00adri\u00adal\u00adly reviewed.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BStBK has war\u00adned against the plan\u00adned aboli\u00adti\u00adon of vol\u00adun\u00adt\u00ada\u00adry dis\u00adclo\u00adsure as a means of avo\u00adi\u00adding cri\u00admi\u00adnal lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty \u2013 a move that would have signi\u00adfi\u00adcant con\u00adse\u00adquen\u00adces for SMEs and pri\u00adva\u00adte individuals.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[335,293,352,350,351,349],"class_list":["post-1594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-steuerrecht","tag-abgabenordnung","tag-bstbk","tag-kmu","tag-selbstanzeige","tag-steuer-compliance","tag-steuerstrafrecht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}