The remuneration for waiving a right of usufruct to a private property is taxable as compensation in accordance with Section 24 No. 1 letter a of the Income Tax Act (ITA) if the owner of the usufruct right at the time of the waiver has actually leased the property and earned taxable income from rental and leasing. According to a recent decision of the Supreme Tax Court, this applies irrespective of whether the taxpayer receiving compensation for lost or foregone income was under legal, economic, or actual pressure at the time the agreement for waiver was concluded.
The Supreme Tax Court referred to the European Court of Justice the question whether, in accordance with the principle of effectiveness, EU law precludes a national practice whereby the taxpayer's good faith in fulfilling the conditions for the margin scheme is not taken into account during the tax assessment procedure but rather considered later in fully separate proceedings.
In a most recent decision, the Supreme Tax Court commented on the conditions for a waiver of late payment fees on grounds of the concessionary rule mentioned in Section 227 Fiscal Code following the rejection of the request for suspension of payment/stay of execution by the tax office.
One of the issues of dispute before the tax courts was if the waiver of a claim by a shareholder of a corporation in return for a debtor warrant should be taken into account at the time of the waiver or later if it is certain that the condition subsequent will no longer occur. According to the decision of the Supreme Tax Court, the ensuing loss in the case from the waiver is to be considered for tax purposes already at the time of the waiver. This results in negative income from capital investments in the amount of the non-recoverable receivable. The Supreme Tax Court further revealed on how it sees qualified subordinated debt and interest for refinancing of the loan to be treated in the hands of a shareholding managing director.
Where shareholders of a GmbH agreed that payments to the capital reserve are to be allocated on a shareholder-related basis, but in deviation the capital reserve is instead allocated to all shareholders in connection with a capital increase in accordance with their participation quotas, the waiver of an appropriate value adjustment by the shareholder who made the payments may constitute a free gift in favor of the co-shareholders.
The Supreme Tax Court decided that the waiver of a head physician of the right to private liquidation in return for monthly compensation payments made by the clinic owner to be able to bill privately insured persons himself is a taxable service and subject to VAT. Moreover, relinquishing the future right for private medical treatment does not fall under the medical services exemption as provided by national law.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that the VAT exemption waiver on property rentals presupposes that the tenant can clearly separate the area used for taxable turnover from that used for tax-free activity, but the separation does not have to be documented by separate contract.
