Development and current criticism of asset impairment in German tax accounting

Abstract

In German tax accounting, the going concern value (“Teilwert”) is the central measurement of asset impairment since 1934. The conceptual weaknesses of the concept have set the future of the 80-year old fiscal measurement tradition up for discussion. First, I shed light on the development of the accounting measurement concepts from Prussian Civil Code 1794 (ALR) to the German Income Tax Act 1934. Then, I analyse the main results of the current tax jurisdiction and draw a comparison to the German commercial law and the IFRS. I state that the creation of a common basis for measurement under commercial and tax law would be desirable, since the going concern value was understood as neither an exception, nor as being subject to the whims of targeted tax accounting policies. The provision of a purely indicator-based impairment test by the IASB is also recommended.