25. Deferred tax assets / deferred tax liabilities

Deferred tax assets on tax loss carry-forwards and temporary differences amount to €750 million before netting (30/9/2017: €992 million), a decline of €242 million compared with 30 September 2017. The carrying amounts of deferred tax liabilities increased by €170 million to €484 million compared with the (30/9/2017: €654 million). The previous year’s figures include €216 million in deferred tax assets and €152 million in deferred tax liabilities from the hypermarket business, which were reclassified to assets held for sale and liabilities in the reporting year.

Deferred taxes relate to the following balance sheet items:

 

 

30/9/2017

 

30/9/2018

€ million

 

Assets

Liabilities

 

Assets

Liabilities

Goodwill

 

44

46

 

27

29

Other intangible assets

 

55

91

 

17

86

Property, plant and equipment and investment properties

 

110

410

 

90

266

Financial investments and investments accounted for using the equity method

 

16

12

 

10

8

Inventories

 

33

4

 

26

5

Other financial and non-financial assets

 

35

30

 

82

29

Assets held for sale

 

0

0

 

1

8

Provisions for post-employment benefits plans and similar obligations

 

116

39

 

95

36

Other provisions

 

56

1

 

38

0

Financial liabilities

 

336

2

 

192

5

Other financial and non-financial liabilities

 

95

18

 

57

13

Liabilities related to assets held for sale

 

0

0

 

0

0

Outside basis differences

 

0

0

 

0

0

Write-downs of temporary differences

 

−65

0

 

−22

0

Loss carry-forwards

 

160

0

 

136

0

Carrying amount of deferred taxes before offsetting

 

992

654

 

750

484

Offset

 

−554

−554

 

−384

−384

Carrying amount of deferred taxes

 

439

100

 

365

100

Of the deferred tax assets shown, €130 million (30/9/2017: €239 million) are attributable to the group of incorporated companies of METRO AG. The additional deferred tax assets of €135 million (30/9/2017: €100 million) are attributable to various companies abroad. Based on business planning, realisation of these tax assets is to be considered sufficiently likely.

In accordance with IAS 12 (Income Taxes), deferred tax liabilities relating to differences between the carrying amount of a subsidiary’s pro rata equity in the balance sheet and the carrying amount of the investment for this subsidiary in the parent company’s tax statement must be recognised (so-called outside basis differences) if the tax benefit is likely to be realised in the future. The differences can primarily be attributed to retained earnings of subsidiaries in Germany and abroad. No deferred taxes were recognised for these retained earnings as they will be reinvested over an indefinite period of time or are not subject to relevant taxation. Any dividends paid by subsidiaries would be subject to dividend tax. In addition, foreign dividends may trigger a withholding tax. As of 30 September 2018, no deferred tax liabilities from outside basis differences were recognised for planned dividend payments (30/9/2017: €0 million). The sum of the amount of temporary differences in connection with investments in subsidiaries for which no deferred tax liabilities were recognised was not determined as this would have been disproportionately expensive due to the level of detail of the METRO group.

No deferred tax assets were capitalised for the following tax loss carry-forwards and interest carry-forwards or temporary differences because realisation of the assets in the short to medium term is not expected:

€ million

 

30/9/2017

 

30/9/2018

Corporation tax losses

 

4,794

 

4,320

Trade tax losses

 

3,626

 

3,296

Interest carry-forwards

 

43

 

57

Temporary differences

 

251

 

104

The loss carry-forwards as of the closing date predominantly concern the German consolidation group. They can be carried forward without limitation.

Tax effects on components of other comprehensive income

 

 

2016/17

 

2017/18

€ million

 

Before taxes

Taxes

After taxes

 

Before taxes

Taxes

After taxes

Currency translation differences from translating the financial statements of foreign operations

 

−36

0

−36

 

−190

0

−190

thereof currency translation differences from net investments in foreign operations

 

(−60)

(0)

(−60)

 

(3)

(0)

(3)

Effective portion of gains/losses from cash flow hedges

 

−3

0

−3

 

2

0

2

Gains/losses from the revaluation of financial instruments in the category ‘available for sale’

 

0

0

0

 

9

0

9

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension plans

 

76

−21

55

 

17

−6

11

Other changes

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

Remaining income tax on other comprehensive income

 

0

2

2

 

0

4

4

 

 

38

−20

18

 

−162

−2

−164

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred taxes on components of the other results primarily apply to the remeasurement of defined benefit pension plans. The other components are not tax effective.

Previous year
Period of 12 months, usually cited as reference for statements in an annual report.
Glossary