The Supreme Tax Court has held that the capital gain on the sale of shares is the difference between the historical acquisition cost and the net proceeds received.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that gains from the sale of profit participating rights acquired up to December 31, 2008 are to be tax-free under the continued application of old law.
Where real estate is sold within ten years of acquisition, the gain realized is subject to taxation. Real estate that was used exclusively for the taxpayer's own residential purposes in the period between acquisition and sale is exempt. According to the Supreme Tax Court in its ruling of 26.10.2021 ( IX R 5/21) such privileged use also occurs where the taxpayer permanently occupies a "garden house" (fully connected to the relevant utilities) in violation of building law.
The Supreme Tax Courts has expressed serious doubts on the definition of a “significant holding” leading to an income tax charge on a gain on sale in 1999 and 2000.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that the ten-year holding period for exempting a gain on sale of privately held property runs to the date the agreement to sell the property is binding on both parties regardless of any as yet unfulfilled condition subsequent.
The ECJ has held the roll-over relief provisions allowing deferral of the tax charge on a capital gain from the sale of business property to infringe the freedom of establishment inasmuch as they require reinvestment of the gain in a replacement asset in Germany.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that a subsequent revision to a contract of sale setting different targets to be achieved with the asset acquired is a taxable event in the year of the revision.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that commodity warrants are not financial investments; thus gains on their sale or redemption are not taxable as investment income.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that the capital gain on the sale of a foreign investment is the difference between the amount paid in euros and the amount received in euros.
The finance ministry has issued a decree on the assumption of debts, calling for the new items to be taken up under tax rules, even in the face of the commercial reality of the consideration received.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that the purchase of a share followed by the immediate and pre-agreed transfer of a portion to a spouse led to neither partner holding the whole share at any one moment.
The Supreme Tax Court has held the 80% deduction from income chargeable to trade tax from shipping operations in international waters to be available regardless of a short or long term intention to continue the operation. If, however, the ship had already been sold prior to commissioning, the capital gain is not derived from an international operation and is chargeable to trade tax in full.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that an option to tax international shipping operations on the basis of the net registered tonnage operated depends on the intention to operate for at least a year after putting the ship into service (commissioning). A gain on the sale of a ship prior to commissioning is not an ancillary transaction to the tonnage tax operations of her replacement, even if the sale proceeds are used to finance the new vessel.
The Supreme Tax Court has held that a replacement reserve for assets lost through accident should be carried forward for the same four-year period as allowed by the roll-over relief provisions.
In a recently published decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that the profit from the sale of a limited partnership share which is proportionally encumbered with an atypical sub-participation is fully subject to trade tax.
The profit from the sale of a share in the upper-tier partnership as prescribed in Section 7 sentence 2 no. 2 Trade Tax Act is not to be allocated to the hidden reserves of the upper-tier partnership and the hidden reserves of the lower-tier partnership. It is rather a single and uniform sales transaction at the level of the upper-tier partnership, the Supreme Tax Court said in a most recently published decision.
