12. Income taxes
Income taxes include the taxes on income paid or owed in the individual countries as well as deferred taxes.
€ million |
2017/181 |
2018/19 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
Deferred taxes in the income statement |
43 |
83 |
||
thereof from temporary differences |
(24) |
(15) |
||
thereof from loss and interest carry-forwards |
(19) |
(68) |
||
€ million |
2017/181 |
2018/19 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
Actual taxes |
173 |
215 |
||
thereof Germany |
(14) |
(9) |
||
thereof international |
(159) |
(206) |
||
thereof tax expenses/income of current period |
(194) |
(221) |
||
thereof tax expenses/income of previous periods |
(−21) |
(−6) |
||
Deferred taxes |
43 |
83 |
||
thereof Germany |
(39) |
(104) |
||
thereof international |
(4) |
(−21) |
||
|
216 |
298 |
||
The income tax rate of the German companies of METRO consists of a corporate income tax of 15.00% plus a 5.50% solidarity surcharge on corporate income tax as well as the trade tax of 14.70% given an average assessment rate of 420.00%. All in all, this results in an aggregate tax rate of 30.53%. The tax rates are unchanged from the previous year. The income tax rates applied to foreign companies are based on the respective laws and regulations of the individual countries and vary within a range of 0.00% (2017/18: 0.00%) and 34.94% (2017/18: 44.41%).
At €298 million (2017/18: €216 million), recognised income tax expenses are €81 million higher than in the previous year. In addition to an increase in pre-tax earnings, the change is due to higher expenses for impairments on deferred taxes, among other things.
Applying the German group tax rate to the reported pre-tax result would result in an income tax expense of €216 million (2017/18: €176 million). The deviation of €81 million (2017/18: €40 million) from the reported tax expense of €298 million (2017/18: €216 million) can be reconciled as follows:
€ million |
2017/181 |
2018/19 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
EBT (earnings before taxes) |
576 |
709 |
||
Expected income tax expenses (30.53%) |
176 |
216 |
||
Effects of differing national tax rates |
−58 |
−62 |
||
Tax expenses and income relating to other periods |
−21 |
−6 |
||
Non-deductible business expenses for tax purposes |
41 |
51 |
||
Effects of not recognised or impaired deferred taxes |
79 |
114 |
||
Additions and reductions for local taxes |
11 |
13 |
||
Tax holidays |
−14 |
−39 |
||
Other deviations |
3 |
5 |
||
Income tax expenses according to the income statement |
216 |
298 |
||
Group tax rate |
37.6% |
42.0% |
||
The item ‘effects of differing national tax rates’ includes a deferred tax revenue of €6 million (2017/18: €23 million) from tax rate changes.
Tax expenses and income relating to other periods of the previous year include a repayment of approximately €20 million because of a retrospective change in foreign law in 2018.
Tax holidays for the current year include effects from real estate transactions in the amount of €30 million (2017/18: €2 million).