Tax & Legal

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.

Following the recommendation of its Finance Committee, the Bundestag adopted the Finance Act 2024 (FA 2024) in an amended version on 18 October 2024.

At its closed-door meeting in Meseberg on 30.8.2023, the Federal Cabinet adopted the government draft for a law to enhance growth opportunities, investment, and innovation as well as tax simplification and tax fairness (Growth Opportunities Act).

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.

On 31 July 2019, the Federal Cabinet adopted the government draft of the "Real Estate Transfer Tax Amendment Act".

Following the discussions of the Conference of Finance Ministers of the Federal States, the government has included in the Finance Bill 2019 amended regulations in respect of so-called “share deals” in real estate transactions. Aim of the proposed rules is a tightening of the financial framework around the indirect "transfers" of real estate held through companies and other associations of persons.

The Federal Ministry of Finance is planning to introduce a bill based on the proposals made by the Finance Ministers' Conference in November 2018 in relation to the Real Estate Transfer Act (RETT Act). It is currently envisaged that the changes, which are likely to be discussed in the Cabinet at the end of April 2019, should be included in the Finance Act 2019.

The Supreme Tax Court has decided that where an intermediary partnership holds direct or indirect interests in a real-estate-owning company, the relevant holding for establishing its interest in the related real-estate holding company, is its interest in the capital of the partnership and not the interest in the jointly owned property according to the law of property.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that real estate transfer tax falls due on the acquisition by a company of its own shares if only one other shareholder remains.

The ECJ has held that a Spanish transfer tax on the purchase of shares in a property-owning company is not similar to VAT and is therefore not precluded by the tax duplication prohibition of the Sixth Directive.

The Supreme Tax Court has granted a taxpayer’s appeal against a real estate transfer tax assessment on the grounds that an indirect change in the shareholdings in the members of a property owning partnership was less than a complete change of interest in the partnership.