The Supreme Tax Court decided that the transfer of real estate from a community of heirs to a partnership in the context of the division of the estate is exempt from real estate transfer tax up to the share in which a co-heir participates in the acquiring partnership. The tax exemption does not apply if the co-heir's share in the partnership decreases within five years following the transfer.
Certain Federal States have granted a filing extension for the filing of declarations for the determination of the value of real estate for real estate tax purposes.
Serious doubts as to whether a distribution of an estate will lead to a change in the shareholder structure of at least 90% of the shares in a property-owning limited liability company within the meaning of Section 1(2b) of the Real Estate Transfer Tax Act (RETTA)
When purchasing a property for which the buyer and seller have agreed to split the real estate transfer tax equally the tax office requires a verifiable justification when claiming the full amount from the buyer. In its decision the Supreme Tax Court also discussed the question as to whether and when an so called “single (uniform) chargeable transfer” may be assumed.
The Supreme Tax Court decided that the actual trade tax liability of a real estate trader arises at the earliest with the conclusion of the purchase agreement for a first property. It is only after the completion of the purchase that he is in a position to offer his services on the market.
If a new church parish is established by merging several church parishes, real estate transfer tax is payable if the original parishes held shares in real estate-owning GmbHs and these GmbH shares are all in the hands of the newly established church parish after the merger. The Supreme Tax Court decided that this also applies if those GmbHs operate charitable institutions such as hospitals or retirement homes.
In a most recently published decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that real estate transfer tax falls due on the acquisition by a company of its own shares if this led to a holding of a little over 95% (90%) of the issued share capital in the hands of one of the shareholders.
In a recently published decision, the Supreme Tax Court commented on the repurchase of shares in a property-owning company where the previous acquisition was not subject to real estate transfer tax. Another case decided on the same date concerned the annulment of a chargeable transfer (concentration of 100% of the shares in the property-owning company) which later was reversed a second time restoring the initial level of shareholding.
On 16 October 2023, the long-awaited joint decrees (issued by the Supreme Tax Authorities of the Federal States) on the attribution of real estate for the purposes of the taxation of share deals (Section 1 (2a) to (3a) RETTA) became available.
These adopt the previous case law of the Supreme Tax Court from 1 January 2021 (II R 44/18) and 14 December 2022 (II R 40/20) and illustrate the legal opinion with examples.
The payment for an eco-account connected to the property under state law is part of the consideration for the purchase of the property and must be included in the assessment basis for real estate transfer tax. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court in a most recent judgment.
The Federal Ministry of Finance has sent the Federal States (“the Länder”) a draft bill to amend the Real Estate Transfer Tax Act for discussion. The main points of this bill are set out below: However, the draft may still be subject to changes in the discussion process or may even fail altogether.
In a recent decision, the Supreme Tax Court once again granted the taxpayer interim relief in the form of a suspension from execution and held that in the case of an acquisition of shares in a limited liability company (GmbH) where the contractual acquisition transaction (signing) and the actual transfer of the shares (closing) take place at different times, real estate transfer tax may not be levied twice.
If the seller of a property has granted a third party a right of usufruct prior to the conclusion of the purchase agreement, and this right has not yet been entered in the land register at the time of conclusion of the agreement, the transaction is subject to real estate transfer tax. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court in a most recently published judgment.
PwC updated its publication Real Estate Going Global - Worldwide country summaries, that provides you with a summary of tax and legal aspects of real estate investments from 50 territories around the globe.
On January 14, 2026, the Federal Cabinet approved the draft of a Ninth Act Amending The Tax Consultancy Act and Other Tax Regulations. Among the various proposed amendment, the draft contains the following amendments with regard to supplementary real estate transfer tax provisions.
In two parallel decisions the Supreme Tax Court held that a group of natural persons who are not organized in the legal form of a partnership or another corporation is not considered as a legal entity under civil law and real estate transfer tax law and cannot therefore be a controlling company within the meaning of Section 6a Real Estate Transfer Tax Act which provides tax exemption for transfer or concentration in the hands of a single shareholder of at least 95% of the equity capital of a property-owning company.
The tax exemption from real estate transfer tax (RETT) in the event of restructuring within a group under Section 6a of the Real Estate Transfer Tax Act (RETTA) does not constitute State Aid prohibited by EU law.
In an interim decision, dated 9 July 2025 (II B 13/25 (AdV) and published on 31 July 2025, the Supreme Tax Court considered it doubtful, following a summary examination, that in cases where the contractual acquisition transaction (signing) and the transfer of the shares (closing) take place at different times, real estate transfer tax can be assessed twice – namely once upon signing under Section 1(3) No. 1 of the German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act (“RETTA)” (signing) and once upon closing under Section 1(2b) RETTA – if the tax office is aware at the time of assessment for the signing that the closing has already occurred.
