Fiscus GmbH, wholly owned by the German government and 15 federal states, is to be liquidated. Founded in 2001 to create a common application suite for all 700 tax offices, its core responsibilities were taken away in 2004 after harsh criticism from the Federal Ministry of Finance for not delivering on time. Estimated sunk costs are in the region of up to 900m.
Although fiscus is a relatively small company (with revenues of 42m in 2004), its story might shed some light on why Germany is only 18th in Capgemini's 2005 ranking of how well 28 European States (25 EU-members, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) deliver on basic e-government services. The report states its federal structure, its budget and the lack of standardization and harmonization as the main problems for Germany.