Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases (712 found)

1. 17.11.2025

   Double assessment of real estate transfer tax in ‘signing/cl ...

   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.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: sale of property, real estate transfer t ...
2. 16.11.2025

   No extended trade tax deduction if classic cars are held as ...

   The Supreme Tax Court decided that a secondary (ancillary) activity to the holding and management of own property which is not expressly permitted by Section 9 No. 1 Sentence 2 Trade Tax Act (in the case in dispute: keeping classic cars for the purpose of appreciation of value), can also preclude an extended trade tax deduction even if no income is generated.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: ancillary service, extended trade tax de ...
3. 16.11.2025

   Taxation of German retired persons living in Portugal as “re ...

   In a case decided by the Supreme Tax Court, an application submitted to the Portuguese tax authorities before 1 April 2020 led to a ten-year tax exemption of the pension income for a taxpayer who had permanently moved to Portugal However, in order to prevent a double non-taxation in such cases Germany has agreed a subject-to-tax clause with Portugal if such income is not taxed in Portugal.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: retirement pension, subject to tax claus ...
4. 14.11.2025

   Three-day delivery presumption invalidated in case of struct ...

   If, within the three-day period, no mail is delivered on two days as scheduled and if, on the third day, only the mail from the first day on which no mail service took place is delivered, the three-day delivery presumption of notification under Section 122( 2) no. 1 of the German Fiscal Code is automatically invalidated. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court in a most recently published judgment.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: delivery documentation, postal delivery
5. 07.11.2025

   Losses incurred prior to harmful acquisition may be carried ...

   The Supreme Tax Court decided that negative income from the financial year in which a harmful acquisition of shares within the meaning of Section 8c Corporation Tax Act takes place is not completely barred as it still can be offset (carried back) against income from the previous year to the extent the losses were incurred prior to the harmful share transfer.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: loss carry-back, harmful share acquisiti ...
6. 07.11.2025

   VAT assessment basis for additional newspaper access to e-su ...

   The Supreme Tax Court decided that delivering a print version of a newspaper and providing first-time access to an e-paper version of that newspaper are separate main services from a VAT point of view. They are not indivisible, they each serve a separate purpose for the customer, and the e-paper is not just used to read the print version of the newspaper under the best possible conditions. However, the e-paper did have no independent value of its own at the time because the total price of the subscription did not increase when access was granted for the first time.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: digital data
7. 02.11.2025

   No tax exemption for group restructurings under Section 6a R ...

   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.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: unification of shares, group structure, ...
8. 02.11.2025

   No substitute inheritance tax liability for foreign family f ...

   In a recent judgment the Supreme Tax Court decided that a family foundation established in the Swiss Confederation and with its administrative headquarters in Germany is not subject to substitute inheritance tax in Germany as it is a foundation without legal capacity.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: substitute, foreign foundation
9. 02.11.2025

   Exemption from real estate transfer tax upon division of the ...

   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.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: heir
10. 02.11.2025

    Payment for an eco-account in connection with the purchase o ...

    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.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: sale of property, Taxation of real estat ...
11. 02.11.2025

    Prepaid cards or voucher codes for purchase of digital conte ...

    The Supreme Tax Court decided that voucher codes for use in the X network - regardless of the distribution channel - are so-called single-purpose vouchers and their transfer is subject to German VAT because the place of performance is in Germany, and the amount of VAT is already determined at the time of issue based on the country code of the user accounts.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: digital platform operators, voucher
12. 26.10.2025

    Correction of input VAT deduction if import VAT was repaid d ...

    The dispute before the Supreme Tax Court concerned the question of whether the tax office was correct to adjust an input VAT deduction of the plaintiff - following a successful appeal under insolvency law - where the plaintiff later received a refund of the import VAT paid. The court could not see any reasons why the plaintiff should receive a refund even though it no longer owed the tax.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: input VAT, adjustment
13. 26.10.2025

    Security deposit in the full amount of tax due not required ...

    In a recent decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that the transport of sparkling wine under suspension of the due tax to another Member State is not hindered if the demand for security previously determined by the main customs office and paid by the sender does not cover the full amount of the valid state tax for sparkling wine that may arise.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: Collaterals / Sicherheiten, excise duty, ...
14. 24.10.2025

    Roll-over provision under Section 6b of the Income Tax Act ( ...

    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.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: roll-over relief provision, Income Tax A ...
15. 19.10.2025

    Supreme Tax Court defines tax principles for rental of holid ...

    In a most recent decision, the Supreme Tax Court held that a residential apartment that is rented exclusively to tourist guests and is kept available for this purpose during the rest of the year is generally to be recognized for tax purposes. It can generally be assumed that the taxpayer intends to generate a surplus income if the rental period does not fall significantly (i.e., by at least 25%) below the usual local rental period for residential apartments.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: rental, Holiday accomodation
16. 19.10.2025

    No trade tax exemption for profits from the sale of educatio ...

    In a recent judgment, the Supreme Tax Court decided that the sale of educational institutions (training faculties) is not a service directly serving the purpose of schooling and education and is therefore not exempt from trade tax.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: trade tax exemption, educational course
17. 19.10.2025

    No trade tax exemption for training courses provided by inde ...

    A limited liability company (GmbH) that holds training classes at an education institute through its sole shareholder-managing director is not a vocational education organization qualifying for trade tax exemption under Section 3 No. 13 Trade Tax Act.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: training seminars, trade tax exemption
18. 12.10.2025

    Failure to inform the revenue authorities of relevant facts ...

    In cannot be assumed from the outset that electronic data which is not automatically transferred to the paper file/electronic file but is only available for retrieval on the tax authority's data storage devices has in any case been known to the tax authorities simply because it is linked to the taxpayer's tax reference number. A married couple could not rely on the tax office to ascertain their tax situation from their wage tax certificates. Anything that is not included in the file is not explained, the Supreme Tax Court said in its conclusion on the question of tax evasion.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: Tax evasion, electronic data
19. 10.10.2025

    No confirmation of receipt required when submitting an appea ...

    Where an appeal is submitted by email, failure to request confirmation that the message was received and read has no impact on the cause of fault. This was decided by the Supreme Tax Court regarding the consequences of missing the one-month filing deadline in the course of an application for reinstatement into the status quo ante pursuant to Section 110 Fiscal Code.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: Wiedereinsetzung in den vorigen Stand, f ...
20. 04.10.2025

    Redemption of gold warrant certificates taxable as capital i ...

    Regarding the redemption of so-called gold warrants, the Supreme Tax Court decided that taxation as „other claims from capital investments“ within the meaning of Section 20 (1) No. 7 Income Tax Act cannot be ruled out on grounds that the holder of the capital claim has the right to demand fulfillment by means other than cash. If the holder exercises this option, the transaction constitutes a taxable redemption and is treated as income from capital investment.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: commodity warrant, capital investment in ...
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