On 22 August 2024, the German Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof) published their decisions dated 13 March 2024, related to reclaims of withholding tax filed on behalf of two European resident funds.
The Court ruled in favour of taxpayers. The cases are related to dividends distributed prior to the amendment of the German Investment Tax Act (Investmentsteuergesetz) of 2018. This is yet another step towards clarifying the position of foreign investment funds and the application of German withholding tax.
The cases decided by the Court are important for pending withholding tax reclaims in Germany for years prior to 2018 and, in principle, should trigger the Federal Tax Office to start reviewing the outstanding reclaims filed on behalf of EU investment vehicles.
Here below, our Tax Partner, Antoine Dupuis, Tax Director, Desislava Dimitrova, and Tax Senior Associate, Allan Latassa, explain these decisions and their impacts.