Tax & Legal

The Federal Constitutional Court held that § Section 6 (5) Income Tax Act providing for the transfer of business assets at book values to be incompatible with the German Basic Law insofar as it rules out a transfer at book value between partnerships with identical shareholding. This exclusion from the tax privilege is incompatible with the general guarantee of the right to equality and thus not justified.

In a reference for a preliminary ruling from the UK Upper Tribunal the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is asked whether the immediate tax charge on a transfer of assets from a UK resident company to a sister company resident in Switzerland (which does not carry on a trade in the UK through a permanent establishment) contrasts with EU-Law (Article 49 TFEU or Article 63 TFEU).

The ECJ has held that immediate taxation of the difference between book and market value of assets moved to another member state goes beyond what is necessary to preserve the legitimate interests of the first state in preserving its tax base if the same move within the country would be tax-free.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that an asset transfer on death is chargeable to inheritance tax under German law, even though its basis was a foreign legal act without an exact German parallel but leading to exemption in the foreign state of residence of both parties.