Liliane Kleinert

Restructurings in corporate groups should be viewed with caution with regard to real estate transfer tax transactions until the ECJ has ruled.

On December 14, 2023, the German Federal Parliament passed tax law amendments previously provided for in the Growth Opportunities Act as part of the Secondary Credit Market Promotion Act. The approval of the German Federal Council is expected. In particular, the status quo for the taxation of partnerships was secured from the date of application of the MoPeG and the interest barrier was adjusted.

The government draft bill on the Growth Opportunities Act provides for an extremely practice-relevant adjustment in real estate transfer tax law.

The German Federal Ministry of Finance ("Bundesministerium für Finanzen", BMF) has published a proposal for discussion to amend the Real Estate Transfer Tax Act ("Grunderwerbsteuergesetz", GrStGNG).

On 6 June 2023, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) published the identical decrees of the supreme tax authorities of the federal states on the application of § 6a of the German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act (GrEStG). The background is the fact that with the Act Amending the GrEStG of 12 May 2021, in addition to the amendment of § 1 para. 2a of the GrEStG and the insertion of a new para. 2b in § 1 of the GrEStG, the scope of application of the tax relief in § 6a of GrEStG was extended to include this new acquisition transaction with effect from 1 July 2021.

New notification requirements pursuant to sec. 16 (4a) and (5) of the German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act (GrEStG) for Share Deals

On 15 April 2021, the financial advisory committee of the German Federal Parliament published an amended version of the draft bill of the amendment of the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) Act.

Before the amendment of the law, the disposal of shares in foreign corporations with domestic real estate assets by shareholders with limited tax liability could only be taxed if the corporation had its company seat or place of management in Germany and if the shareholder held at least 1 % of the company‘s share capital (pursuant to sec. 17 EStG – German Income Tax Act “GITA”).