12. Income taxes

Income taxes include the taxes on income paid or owed in the individual countries as well as deferred taxes.

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% (2018/19: 0.00%) and 34.94% (2018/19: 34.94%).

At €108 million (2018/19: €301 million), recognised income tax expenses are €−193 million below previous year’s level. The decline in current income taxes amounting to €82 million (2018/19: increase by €42 million) is mainly due to the lower consolidated input tax earnings compared to the previous year. The decrease in deferred tax expenses of €111 million (2018/19: increase by €40 million) is due to the write-downs of deferred taxes on domestic loss carry-forwards recognised in the previous year.

Applying the German group tax rate to the reported pre-tax result would result in an income tax expense of €−10 million (2018/19: €222 million). The deviation of €118 million (2018/19: €79 million) from the reported tax expense of €108 million (2018/19: €301 million) can be reconciled as follows:

The item ‘effects of differing national tax rates’ includes a deferred tax expense of €3 million (2018/19: deferred tax income of €7 million) from tax rate changes.

Tax holidays for the previous year include effects from real estate transactions in the amount of €30 million.