In a judgement released on December 17, 2014(1 BvL 21/12), the
Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht
– "BVerfG") declared the
applicable Inheritance and Gift Tax law partly (especially the
exemption regulations for business assets) unconstitutional.
The main subject of the lawsuit was whether the legislator
breaches his constitutional duty of equal treatment of taxpayers if
he allows that business assets can be exempted from Inheritance or
Gift Tax in difference to assets from other sources which do not
enjoy such a tax privilege. The BVerfG ruling turned out to be less
strict than it was widely expected as the court did in principle
allow the legislator to privilege business assets in order to avoid
that the imposition with Inheritance or Gift Tax can cause a
financial crisis to an operation which ownership is transferred
from one generation to the next. However, the BVerfG required the
legislator to change the current legal practice
fundamentally.
The current rules may continue to apply until June 30, 2016. Until
then, the legislator must adopt new regulations which presents a
new challenge for the legislator, companies, and tax consultants
for the next years. It has to be noted that the upcoming reform of
the Inheritance and Gift Tax will then be the third attempt to
establish an Inheritance and Gift Tax regime which does not violate
fundamental principles of constitutional law.
Key Content
It is the view of the BVerfG that the current structure of the exemption regulations for business assets violates the principle of equality (Art. 3 Section 1 German Constitution, Grundgesetz – "GG"), as
- the privileges of business assets are disproportionate that go
beyond the range
of small- and medium-sized companies without an economic needs test; - the exemption of companies with up to 20 employees from
withholding the minimum
of total wages and salaries is disproportionate; - the exemption of business assets containing up to 50 %
operative assets for
tax purposes is disproportionate; - Sections 13a and 13b Inheritance and Gift Tax Act
(Erbschaftsteuer- und Schenkungsteuergesetz –
"ErbStG") are insofar unconstitutional
as they permit
structuring leading to an unjustifiable unequal treatment (e.g., corporate restructurings
to avoid the assessment of aggregated wages and salaries).
Consequences
As the current ErbStG may be valid until June 30, 2016, the
privileges of business assets pursuant to Sections 13a and 13b
ErbStG are in general also applicable to cases of Inheritance and
Gift Taxes that have not yet been assessed. An exception to this is
the excessive utilization of Sections 13a and 13b ErbStG that
violates the principle of equality. According to the BVerfG, for
these cases there is no protection of legitimate expectations.
Further, the continued validity of the unconstitutional provisions
does not mean that there is a protection of legitimate expectations
with regard to new regulations that apply retroactively for the
time since this judgement was delivered, and which do not recognize
an excessive utilization of Sections 13a and 13b ErbStG. Thus, it
is the legislator's decision whether to take a retroactive
effect into consideration or not.
However, the decision of the BVerfG has no effects on Inheritance
and Gift Tax statements that were previously issued, even if they
contain a notice of provisional status pursuant to Section 165
German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung –
"AO"). According to a press release of
the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Finanzen
– "BMF"), the affected
Inheritance and Gift Tax statements are issued on a provisional
basis until new legal regulations come into force.
Possible Scope of the New Law
In summary, it is now task of the legislator to modify the
exemption regulations according to the guidelines of the BVerfG and
to legally eliminate the structuring criticized by the BVerfG. The
legislator must pay attention to the requirements laid down by the
Federal Constitutional Court to finally implement an Inheritance
and Gift Tax Act that will be accepted in front of the court.
The legislator has discretion to award preferential treatment to
small- and medium-sized companies. However, it is disproportionate
to favor business assets that go beyond the range of small- and
medium-sized companies without an economic needs test. Hence, an
exemption of 100 % is possible – even in cases of the
transition of large company assets –, but goes too far if the
necessity to exempt is not specifically determined. While the
aggregated wage regulation is in principle compatible with Art. 3
Section 1 GG, this does not apply to the exemption of companies
with less than 20 employees. Finally, the period of 5 or 7 years
for which to hold a company is in general compatible with the
principle of equality.
Taxpayers who intend to transfer assets in the future must
consider carefully whether transactions within the scope of the
current or within the law that continues to apply after June 30,
2016 are more favorable. It is likely that the exemption of
business assets as it exists today will no longer exist after June
30, 2016. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the exemption
regulations for business assets will generally continue to
apply.
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This Mayer Brown article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.