Rights granted abroad – Will withholding tax still be due in Germany after all?
Related people
Headlines in this article
Related news and insights
News: 27 March 2024
Allen & Overy advises SBI Group on its investment in Solaris
News: 21 March 2024
Allen & Overy advises arrangers on takeover of Encavis by KKR
News: 07 March 2024
Advising banks on TUI’s EUR 500m sustainability-linked senior notes
News: 20 February 2024
Allen & Overy advises Uniper on sale of Hungarian gas fired power plant Gönyű to Veolia
For months now the treatment of licence fee income generated in Germany under licence agreements concluded between foreign companies where the right granted is merely listed in a public register in Germany has been causing great uncertainty among companies. And there is no end in sight.
While the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesfinanzministerium; BMF) abandoned the position adopted in its circular dated 6 November 2020, proposing just a few days later to include a provision removing limited tax liability for such cases in the draft bill of 19 November 20201 for an Act to Modernise Relief from Withholding Taxes (AbzStEntModG) (for more information see our Client Alert of 30 November 2020), the revised government bill of 20 January 20212 has now been published, in which the proposed removal of the limited tax liability has been deleted again. However, the BMF intends to offer relief for certain DTT cases in a new administrative circular dated 11 February 2021. It seems, though, that the last word on this matter has not yet been spoken.
1 Draft bill for an Act to Modernise Relief from and Issue Certification for Withholding Taxes (Referentenentwurf für ein Gesetz zur Modernisierung der Entlastung von Abzugssteuern und der Bescheinigung von Kapitalertragsteuer) dated 19 November 2020.
2 Government bill for an Act to Modernise Relief from and Issue Certification for Withholding Taxes (Regierungsentwurf für ein Gesetz zur Modernisierung der Entlastung von Abzugssteuern und der Bescheinigung von Kapitalertragsteuer) dated 20 January 2021.