If the shareholder’s right of membership in a domestic stock corporation (AG) lapses because the AG is dissolved, wound up and deleted from the register as a result of insolvency, the shareholder incurs a taxable loss if he does not receive his contribution back in full or in part. If such shares are deleted from the shareholder’s securities account by the custodian bank before the AG is removed from the register, the loss will be considered to arise at the time of the deletion by the custodian bank. However, a loss cannot already be assumed to have arisen at the point when a distribution of assets can no longer be objectively expected as part of the final distribution of the assets of the AG or when the listing of the shares on the stock exchange is discontinued or their listing is revoked.  This was the judgment (VIII R 20/18) of the Supreme Tax Court on November 17 2020 and published on 11 March 2021. Continue reading