Tax avoidance: banks bring German government to five billion euros – ZEIT ONLINE

German banks have the German state media reports brought together with foreign investors about a billion sum. was particularly active here Commerzbank been, which is 15 percent state-owned, reported a research composite of Handelsblatt , Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Washington Post and the New York Search Office ProPublica. The damage would amount since 2011 to around five billion euros.

According to the reports, the banks and their foreign partners a tax tricks, which is called in industry jargon Cum-Cum-business operated: Shortly before the payment of the dividend lend foreign shareholders their German shares to domestic banks. This may take credit from the capital gains tax then different from the foreign investors. Thereafter, the shares are handed back, the saved control is shared.

The tricks are so popular that the volume conferred shares of German companies anwachse in the last three weeks before a dividend record date by up to 800 percent, reports the Handelsblatt . Between 2013 and 2015, such support services were therefore alone at Commerzbank 250 times prove. Commerzbank said on request, you agiere with daily more than 100,000 stores “necessarily” in so-called Cum-Cum-situations. However, imagine “by extensive internal systems and controls ensure that all commercial transactions in accordance with applicable law are”.

but experts doubt that the practice is generally permitted. Subject “no commercial reasons other than tax avoidance” in front, to let certainly speak of abuse, said the tax expert of the University of Mannheim, Christoph Spengel, Bayerischer Rundfunk.

The Federal Ministry of Finance remained generally on request. We expect that the Commerzbank consider the legal requirements. “For the amount of possibly incurred by Cum / cum designs control failures are the Federal Ministry of Finance no adequate evidence which would enable a reliable estimate.” The federal government has brought the end of February a bill on the way to simplify the taxation of investment funds retroactively as of 1 January 2016 and thus to be able to prevent such and similar control tricks.