{"id":6288,"date":"2015-04-30T10:34:48","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T10:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/?p=6288"},"modified":"2016-07-19T11:50:51","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T11:50:51","slug":"april-30-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/april-30-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"April 30, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1468926541521{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7434″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1468927215145{padding-right: 2% !important;padding-left: 2% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

CURRENT LAW<\/h1>\n

Ausgabe III-IV\/2015<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Focus in this edition: Real Estate and Tax Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

aclanz<\/strong>\u00a0Partnerschaft von Rechtsanw\u00e4lten
\nAn der Hauptwache 11 (Alemanniahaus), 60313 Frankfurt am Main
\nTel.: +49 (0)69 \/ 2 97 28 73 \u2013 0, Fax: +49 (0)69 \/ 2 97 28 73 \u2013 10
\nE-Mail:\u00a0info@aclanz.de<\/a>, Web:\u00a0www.aclanz.de<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. New Obstacles: Decorative Repairs Transferred to the Tenant <\/strong><\/p>\n

Recent decisions of the Bundesgerichtshof \/ <\/em>German Federal Court provide for new obstacles with regard to clauses transferring the responsibility for decorative repairs to the tenant. For instance, such a clause may only be valid if the apartment had been let in a renovated condition at the commencement of lease (Bundesgerichtshof<\/em> \/ German Federal Court, March 18, 2015 \u2013 VIII ZR 185\/14; VIII ZR 21\/13). Also, clauses providing for a partial payment of renovating costs may be invalid in the event that the renovation deadline has not expired when the tenant returned the apartment (Bundesgerichtshof<\/em> \/ German Federal Court, March 18, 2015 \u2013 VIII ZR 242\/13). According to the Court such clauses are not transparent. The cases concerned residential leases but it is very likely that they may also be applied to commercial leases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Commercial Lease: Principle of Cost Efficient Management<\/strong><\/p>\n

A commercial tenant may question administrative expenses for being too high if they violate the principle of cost efficient management. In order to do so, the tenant must substantiate his allegation by demonstrating that the same administrative services are locally available for a much lower price (Bundesgerichtshof<\/em> \/ German Federal Court, December 17, 2014 \u2013 XII ZR 170\/13). On the other hand the landlord is not required to give details on the services included in a flat rate for administrative services.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Subleasing to Tourist Justifies Termination for Cause of Residential Lease<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subleasing an apartment to tourists (e.g. through Airbnb) without informing the landlord may justify a termination for cause of the lease \u2013 even without any prior warning letter (Landgericht Berlin<\/em> \/ Regional Court of Berlin, July 23, 2012 \u2013 12 O 506\/11; March 2nd<\/sup>, 2015 \u2013 67 T 29\/15). Previously, the Bundesgerichtshof <\/em>\/ German Federal Court had ruled in another case that the general permission of the landlord for subleasing may not cover hosting paying tourists (Bundesgerichtshof<\/em> \/ German Federal Court, January 8, 2014 \u2013 VIII ZR 210\/13).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Capital Gains Tax: Sale of Real Estate within 10 Year Holding Period <\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether the sale of real estate is exercised within the 10 year holding period for the purposes of capital gains tax will be determined on the basis of the date of the notarization of the deed of sale. The fact of a later completion of a condition precedent to closing would be irrelevant for tax purposes according to the Bundesfinanzhof<\/em> \/ Federal Fiscal Court, February 10, 2015 \u2013 IX R 23\/13. In the case at hand, the parties had already notarized the deed for the sale of a property formerly used by the railway. However, the administration\u2019s permission to change the general function of the property as railway property had been a condition precedent to closing. The permission was given after the term of the 10 year holding period whereas the notarization had taken place before the end of the term of that period. The court ruled that the parties were already sufficiently bound by the notarization. Therefore, the vendor of the property had to declare the profit of the deal as taxable income.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. Recognition of Disproportional Profit Distributions for Tax Purposes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also a disproportional profit distribution must be recognized for tax purposes as long as it is in line with corporate law. This applies also in the event that the benefitting shareholder of a GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschr\u00e4nkter Haftung<\/em> \/ German Limited Liability Company) intended to offset income against losses and reinvested the distribution in the company. The Bundesfinanzhof<\/em> \/ Federal Fiscal Court, December 4, 2014 \u2013 IV R 28\/11, did not miss reminding the Tax Administration that the principle had already been confirmed in many precedents before. It objected to the Tax Administration\u2019s new regulation recognizing such profit distributions only in the event of reasonable economic purposes. A change of the regulation is still outstanding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. \u201cExit-Bonus<\/em>\u201c of Managing Directors after Management-Buy-Out<\/strong><\/p>\n

An \u201cExit-Bonus<\/em>\u201d paid to a Managing Director by one of the selling co-shareholders of a GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschr\u00e4nkter Haftung<\/em> \/ German Limited Liability Company) is taxable as a whole. It cannot be treated as partly tax free capital gains even in the event that the Managing Director had owned more than 1% of the shares (Finanzgericht M\u00fcnster<\/em> \/ Fiscal Court of M\u00fcnster, December 12, 2014 \u2013 4 K 1918\/13 E). The Court pointed out that EUR 426.560,00 could not be treated as capital gains due to the sale of shares because they were not paid by the buyer of the shares sold. Therefore, they had to be considered as remuneration for the employment of the Managing Director.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1468927773955{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7447″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1468927578567{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 2% !important;padding-left: 2% !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]JOACHIM HUND-VON HAGEN, D.E.A. (PARIS II)\u00a0<\/strong>
\nRechtsanwalt, Wirtschaftsmediator
\nFachanwalt f\u00fcr Handels- und Gesellschaftsrecht
\nFachanwalt f\u00fcr Steuerrecht
\nJoachim.HundvHagen@aclanz.de<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]DOMINIK HOIDN<\/strong>
\nRechtsanwalt
\nDominik.Hoidn@aclanz.de<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]DR. JOACHIM WICHERT<\/strong>
\nRechtsanwalt
\nFachanwalt f\u00fcr Arbeitsrecht
\nWirtschaftsmediator
\nJoachim.Wichert@aclanz.de<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1468927892126{margin-bottom: 50px !important;border-top-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;border-top-color: #e0e0e0 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #e0e0e0 !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1468927995896{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;}”]RECHT AKTUELL fasst Rechtsprechung, Gesetzgebung und Rechtsfragen abstrakt zusammen, gibt also keinen Rechtsrat zu einem konkreten Sachverhalt oder Problem. Soweit Urteile dargestellt werden, betrifft die Darstellung immer nur die konkrete Entscheidung des jeweiligen Gerichts, ungeachtet deren sp\u00e4terer Aufhebung oder einer anderweitig eingetretenen Rechts\u00e4nderung. F\u00fcr den Inhalt dieses Schreibens \u00fcbernehmen wir daher keine Haftung. F\u00fcr R\u00fcckfragen stehen wir Ihnen gerne zur Verf\u00fcgung.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CURRENT LAW III-IV\/2015 <\/a><\/p>\n

Focus: Real Estate and Tax Law<\/p>\n

Contents: 1. New Obstacles: Decorative Repairs Transferred to the Tenant, 2. Commercial Lease: Cost Effectiveness of Administrative Expenses, 3. Residential Space Lease: Granting the Apartment to Tourists Justi-fies Extraordinary Termination, 4. Capital Gains Tax for Sale of Real Estate within 10 Year Holding Period, 5. Recognition of Disproportional Profit Distributions for Tax Purposes, 6. \u201cExit-Bonus\u201c of Managing Directors after Management-Buy-Out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein-en","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aclanz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}