25. Deferred tax assets/deferred tax liabilities

Deferred tax assets on tax loss carry-forwards and temporary differences amount to €1,219 million before offsetting (30/9/2021: €1,257 million), a decrease of €38 million compared with 30 September 2021. The carrying amounts of deferred tax liabilities increased by €90 million to €1.085 million compared with the previous year (30/9/2021: €995 million).

Deferred taxes relate to the following balance sheet items:

Of the reported balance of deferred tax assets and liabilities, €15 million (30/9/2021: €51 million) is attributable to the group of incorporated companies of METRO AG. The realisation of the tax asset is expected in the next year due to the disposal of the parts of the campus site. The additional surplus of €119 million (30/9/2021: €211 million) is largely attributable to temporary differences at various foreign subsidiaries. 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 deferred tax liability of €33 million recognised as of 30 September 2022 (30/9/2021: €0 million) is attributable to planned intra-group dividend payments. The recognised deferred tax assets on outside basis differences are related to the country exit in Japan. They decreased by €8 million compared to the previous year.

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 entailed a disproportionately high effort 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:

The trade tax loss carry-forwards for which no deferred tax assets were recognised relate to German companies and can be carried forward without limitations.

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