Categories: Supreme Tax Court cases (720 found)

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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 ...
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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 ...
11. 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 ...
12. 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 ...
13. 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
14. 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 ...
15. 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
16. 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, ...
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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 ...
20. 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
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