German partnerships would be able to reclassify as corporations to take advantage of a lower tax rates under legislation passed Friday by the country’s upper house.
The change—part of a broader bill reworking corporate restructuring rules—could mean that rates for tens of thousands of businesses decrease by around 15 percentage points. German businesses have been demanding these corporate tax law changes for years. The bill is one of several tax measures approved that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is working to enact before the general elections in September.
The legislation would also allow for tax-neutral restructuring of German …