(18) Deferred taxes

The deferred tax assets of €1,609 million (previous year: €2,502 million) and deferred tax liabilities of €1,583 million (previous year: €1,885 million) principally relate to measurements deviating from the tax bases. €3,159 million and €3,141 million of the total amount of gross deferred tax assets and liabilities, respectively, will be realized within twelve months (previous year: €1,734 million and €1,346 million).

The following is a breakdown of deferred tax assets and liabilities by item:

Deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are netted out for each company and/or tax group.

Total deferred tax assets include the following capitalized tax reduction claims which result from the expected utilization of previously unused tax loss carryforwards in subsequent years:

The realization of these tax carryforwards is guaranteed with sufficient certainty. At the end of the reporting period, there were €399 million in corporate income tax loss carryforwards and €424 million in trade tax loss carryforwards for which no deferred tax claims have been recognized (previous year: €467 million and €494 million, respectively).

Domestic and foreign tax loss carryforwards can essentially be used for an unlimited period.

In the year under review, €180 million in deferred taxes (previous year: €132 million) arising from the translation of foreign financial statements and €33 million (previous year: -€52 million) from valuations without an effect on income were offset against equity.