Clifford Chance
Share Deal Rules under the German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act to be tightened from 1 July 2021
20 April 2021
After drawn-out discussions, the German legislator will tighten the real estate transfer tax rules for share deals. Essentially, the prospective changes are those which have long been in the pipeline:
- reduction of the threshold for taxable transfers from 95% to 90% participations;
- extension of the holding and observation periods from five to ten or in some cases fifteen years;
- application of the movement rule also to corporations (previously only applicable to partnerships);
- a small ray of hope: the introduction of a stock exchange clause (albeit restricted);
