Clifford Chance

German Tax on Royalties and Gains in the Case of Intangibles Registered in Germany

19 May 2021

Since last year, the German tax authorities have rather unfortunately decided to impose tax on royalty payments made between non-German-resident taxpayers for licenses granted for intangibles registered with the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) or, according to the view of the German tax authorities, which are entered in the domestic register on the basis of an application made to the European Patent and Trademark Office under the European Patent Convention. They have been doing so irrespective of whether there is any other German nexus in addition to such registration.

 

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