Foreign tax consultancy firms which offer all the services of a tax consultancy firm in Germany without being entered in the register of tax consultants cannot invoke the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services but act in an anti-competitive manner – Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt discusses a ruling by the Mannheim Regional Court in his latest GRUR-Prax article.

In issue 8/2020 (page 168), Dr Rudolf Böckenholt discusses a decision of the Hamm Higher Regional Court (OLG) according to which barriers to admission for tax assistance do not infringe the fundamental freedoms of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services in the EU because they are justified by overriding general interests and the targeted public requires high-quality advice from representatives entered on the list of qualified advisers within the confusing and difficult to understand German tax law. A foreign company with advisers qualified under the law of another Member State does not meet those conditions. If, nevertheless, all tax services are offered in Germany, the company acts anti-competitively and the partners representing it are personally liable.