German medium-sized enterprises are the job engine of the German economy. Around 58 percent of all employees in Germany work in small or medium-sized enterprises, and even 82 percent of trainees are employed by medium-sized enterprises. According to official statistics, owner-managed, medium-sized enterprises account for 99.6 percent of all German companies and are the strongest driver of economic development with 35.3 percent of total sales in Germany (Federal Ministry of Economics Jan/2019).
Whether crafts, trade or industry, whether service, development or strategic support in and across all industries (automotive, plant construction, construction and real estate, mechanical engineering, chemicals, health care, textiles, clothing, transport, logistics and transport, energy, agriculture and nutrition, media companies, film and publishing, etc.), there are medium-sized enterprises operating supra-regionally, orientated towards Europe and the world markets everywhere.
In a large number of cases they are not only owner-managed companies, but also companies that have been in family hands for generations. Due to a special anchoring, a special mixture of responsibility towards the own staff, the own home region and the own family, the owner-managed middle-sized enterprises are often also more resistant and altogether crisis resistant against the various challenges of the international markets.
In all cases, taxes must be recorded, declared and paid - starting with local trade tax, income tax and/or corporation tax within the company, wage tax for employees, VAT, energy tax, real estate tax, insurance tax, capital gains tax and customs duties to name but a few examples.
The stronger the international orientation of the companies, the more complex the tax law connections in dealing with foreign permanent establishments or project companies become. Nowadays, tax law concepts relating to existing or future company pension schemes are also becoming more relevant. Nor should the legally required and preventive internal control and compliance systems be forgotten, the establishment and operation of which are becoming increasingly important.
In addition, owner-managed family businesses in particular are always to be supported in succession and internal optimization issues, as they also have to compete with industrial structures.
Based on the experience of diverse owner-managed and industrially oriented medium-sized enterprises, we see a particular demand for the following thematic fields:
- Establishment and operation of tax law systems, especially in an international context with foreign permanent establishments /project locations and/or subsidiaries, including individual transfer pricing systems:
- Future-oriented digitization of the finance and tax function; accompanied by a resilient internal tax control system (Tax ICS)
- Succession planning or foundation law concepts
- Wage and salary tax law concepts in an international environment
- Ideas for the flexible development of special tax law competencies
WTS advisors are familiar with the special challenges faced by medium-sized enterprises. We support them as well as entrepreneurs with solutions that are tailored to their specific needs.
In the event of additional questions from the field of finance/accounting regarding accounting and valuation, planned transactions or individual EDP or IT solutions for your financial sector, our subsidiary WTS Advisory will of course be happy to assist you with its competent services and experienced consultants.
