Editorial

Dear Readers, 

The sustainability reporting that was previously expected to start in 2026 with up to 1,000 details (so-called datapoints) on environmental, social, and governance issues has been consigned to history. ESG Reporting 2.0 - which has been postponed, reduced and will be mandatory for only a few - will begin in 2 years’ time. In our Key Issue report, we discuss why small and medium-sized companies should nevertheless prepare themselves for sustainability reporting, which has however been greatly reduced in its scope. Yet, so-called VSME reporting can be a pragmatic “one-size-fits-all" solution. In this issue of the PKF magazine, we present the fundamentals and basic principles of VSME reporting; a discussion of the reporting format will follow at a later date. 

The focus of our Tax section is, first of all, the rules on home workplaces; these not only constitute the subject matter of exchanges on social media, but increasingly also of controversial debate between countries. We have summarised the current status and, in particular, defined the circumstances under which a home workplace also creates a permanent establishment. Next up, we have an overview of benefits in kind with which employers can make themselves attractive - when gifts, fitness training and the like are granted in addition to remuneration. 

We continue with a puzzle. NIS 2 is a) a rocket, b) a virus, or c) a directive that hardly anybody is aware of and which has to be observed by almost 30,000 businesses? You can read the solution in the Tax section. This is then followed by the second part of our report on the family asset pool company. In the last issue of our magazine, we set out the advantages of this model for estate planning; this time, the focus is on the choice of legal form. Finally, we cover the current legal situation with respect to clauses with which employers are supposedly able to ensure that advanced training costs will be reimbursed if an employee leaves the company.  

Furthermore, in this April edition of our magazine you can find a few varied short reports on selling, purchasing and gifting. The topics include the loss carryback when purchasing shares during the year, consultancy costs in the case of the sale of a second-tier subsidiary and a generous - albeit taxable - €20,000 Easter gift.

We wish you an interesting read. 
Your PKF-Team