Germany Fiscal Court Clarifies Real Estate Transfer Tax for Unification of Shares

The German Federal Fiscal Court Feb. 12 posted Decision No. II R 24/22, clarifying real estate transfer tax for the unification of shares. The taxpayer, a limited liability company, held most of the shares in a real estate company, and was a partner in other real estate holding companies. The real estate company repurchased a share from another shareholder, causing the taxpayer’s effective ownership to rise above 95 percent. The Tax Office treated this as a taxable unification of shares. On appeal, the Federal Fiscal Court found that: 1) a company buying back its own shares can trigger the 95 ...