Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases (724 found)

1. 14.12.2025

   No gift tax exemption for contributions to state foundation

   Donations to a foundation with legal capacity established by a federal state are not exempt from gift tax if, according to the purposes specified in the statutes of the foundation, the donations do not exclusively serve the purposes of the federal state and are not exclusively used for tax-privileged purposes. This is the conclusion reached by the Supreme Tax Court in a recently published decision.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: donations, gift tax, foundation
2. 14.12.2025

   No confiscation and utilization of damaged oil tanker and it ...

   In two separate but substantively related appeal proceedings for preliminary legal protection, the Supreme Tax Court held that customs authorities are not permitted to confiscate and to utilize the oil tanker “Eventin” for the time being in light of the European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia. The court sees “reasonable doubts“ as to the legitimacy of the proposed measures. It is not clear whether, despite EU sanctions, the ship and its cargo are allowed to enter and leave EU territory due to an exception applicable for emergencies.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: international shipping, fuel oil, Russia
3. 13.12.2025

   Supreme Tax Court considers the land tax reform (“federal mo ...

   In three cases and following oral proceedings on 12 November 2025, the Supreme Tax Court held that using the capitalized earnings value method for the valuation of residential property to determine the land tax from January 1, 2025, to be constitutional.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: land tax, Taxation of real estate
4. 12.12.2025

   No hidden distribution of severance pay for pension commitme ...

   The Supreme Tax Court once again decided on pension promises to a managing director who is also the majority shareholder of the employer company and specified in more detail the rules for distinguishing allowable business expenses from disallowable “hidden distributions”. In the case at hand the plaintiff received compensation for early termination of pension claims as a result of significant financial difficulties of the company.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: pension, hidden distributions, severance ...
5. 08.12.2025

   Extended trade tax deduction in case of property rental toge ...

   Operating equipment is not part of the real estate for valuation purposes, its joint rental together with the real estate is harmful to the extended trade tax deduction pursuant to Section 9 No. 1 Sentence 2 Trade Tax Act. This also applies if the operating facility is permanently attached to the land or building. The only exception to this rule is if the joint-letting of the operating equipment permanently attached to the land or building is considered a secondary activity that does not affect the tax benefit, the Supreme Tax Court said in a most recent judgment.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: extended trade tax deduction
6. 07.12.2025

   No accrual of loan interest if terms of payment are prolonge ...

   If a majority shareholder and the company decide that the interest maturity date from a loan granted to the company should be extended, the interest does not immediately accrue to the shareholder if the amendment was concluded prior to the original interest due date. According to the Supreme Tax Court, this applies irrespective of whether the terms and circumstances of the prolongation are customary and in line with arm's length principles.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: accruall, deferral, interest period
7. 07.12.2025

   Compensation for waiver of usufruct on leased property subje ...

   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.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: compensation payment, waiver
8. 05.12.2025

   Tax relief under Section 7i of the Income Tax Act restricted ...

   In a recently published judgment, the Supreme Tax Court decided that the restriction for tax relief under Section 7i of the Income Tax Act to domestic historical monuments and therefore the disallowance of the increased depreciation for historical monuments located abroad to be, in principle, consistent with EU law.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: depreciation
9. 30.11.2025

   Tax consultancy fees in connection with the sale of a compan ...

   Tax consultancy expenses incurred in connection with the preparation of the tax return and the determination of the profit from the sale of a shareholding in a corporation are not tax-deductible costs of disposal within the meaning of Section 17(2) sentence 1 of the Income Tax Act.

   Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

   Keywords: fees, Sale of shares, tax consultancy
10. 30.11.2025

    Real estate transfer tax upon acquisition of real estate by ...

    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.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: property development, sale of real estat ...
11. 30.11.2025

    Begin of statutory limitation period not before submission o ...

    In a fundamental judgment, the Supreme Tax Court decided that in cases where the taxpayer has fulfilled the notification obligation under Section 30 (1) or (2) of the German Inheritance Tax Act and the tax office requires the submission of a gift tax return the deferral of the limitation period for gift tax assessment only ends when the gift tax return is filed but no later than at the end of the third calendar year after the year in which the tax arose.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: gift tax, limitation period
12. 28.11.2025

    Update: ECJ referral on margin taxation for travel services

    In a decision of 20 June 2024, the Supreme Tax Court asked the ECJ for a preliminary ruling as to whether the margin taxation for tour operators and travel agents must also be applied in a case of „bus excursions“ organized by a company with the intention of promoting the sale of its goods.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: margin taxation, travel services
13. 21.11.2025

    Stay of execution of EU energy crisis contribution

    In a recently published interim decision, the Supreme Tax Court expressed considerable doubts as to the legitimacy of the German Energy Crisis Contribution Act which was in force for years 2022 and 2023.

    Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases

    Keywords: energy tax
14. 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 ...
15. 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 ...
16. 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 ...
17. 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
18. 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 ...
19. 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
20. 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, ...
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