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 upheld the German rule providing for immediate taxation (but with a deferral option) of the transfer of a roll-over provision to be held as a fixed asset of a permanent establishment in another member state.
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 decision published on 14 December 2023 on Section 4 (4a) of the German Income Tax Act (restriction of deductible interest expense in the case of excess drawings), the Supreme Tax Court decided that the rule whereby Section 4 (4a) Income Tax Act (ITA) is to be applied for each business in isolation – a so-called business-related application - also applies to multi-level partnership structures. As a result, the transfer of a rolled-over profit in accordance with Section 6b ITA (roll-over relief) to another legal entity does not lead to a contribution to the transferring legal entity - (i.e. a contribution which would reduce the level of excess drawings) - due to the fact that no contributable asset was involved.
In its judgement of 2 July 2025 ( XI R 27/22), the Supreme Tax Court ruled that a roll-over provision created incorrectly in accordance with Section 6b(3) of the Income Tax Act (ITA) must be corrected in accordance with the principles of formal balance sheet consistency.
On 10 September 2025, the Federal Cabinet approved a draft bill to promote private investment and the financial centre (Location Promotion Bill). The draft law aims to provide a stronger impetus for private investment. To this end, the framework conditions for private investment should improve, particularly with regard to infrastructure, renewable energies and venture capital. Companies in the financial market sector will be relieved of unnecessary bureaucracy with the elimination of unnecessary auditing, reporting and disclosure requirements.
The Supreme Tax Court has decided that a gain arising from a share disposal can be rolled-over on a tax-neutral basis under Section 6b Income Tax Act where the privileged asset has been sold to a related entity. However, the Court also ruled that the part of the gain attributable to the write-up of the privileged asset – where the earlier write-down of the shares had reduced the taxable profits -could not be rolled over as a tax-neutral transfer under section 6b of the Income Tax Act.
The German Federal Ministry of Finance has presented the draft bill for a fourth act implementing tax relief measures to address the Corona crisis (Fourth Corona Tax Relief Act) the following tax measures,inter alia, are envisaged:
The European Commission has published a proposed CCCBT directive to allow groups active in more than one member state to opt for taxation on a single, consolidated tax base to be allocated over member states on a set formula. Assessment and collection would be by each member state under its own rules and at its own rates.
