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The income taxation of German partnerships has a special feature in the form of "special business assets" (“Sonderbetriebsvermögen”). The consequences of an allocation of assets to the special business assets are far-reaching. These assets do constitute business assets (“Betriebsvermögen”), and unlike private assets for tax purposes, a non-taxable sale is no longer conceivable. In addition, in the case of commercial partnerships, special business assets are also included in the trade tax assessment basis. The German Federal Fiscal Court has described the "subtleties" of a contribution to and withdrawal from the special business assets in detail in a new ruling (file number IV R 20/23).

Alterations to a “tax regime” are notoriously difficult. Whether it is the transition from the tax-ation of capital income (Sect. 20 of the German Income Tax Act) to the flat-rate withholding tax regime (Sect. 32d of the German Income Tax Act) or the fundamental switch from the credit method to the half/partial income method for the taxation of corporations and their shareholders, frictions always arise at the intersection of the regimes. Which problems arose during the transition from the previous system of semi-transparent taxation of public investment funds to an opaque system on December 31, 2017?

The liability to trade tax (under Sect. 2 of the Trade Tax Act) is a prerequisite for any trade tax being charged in the first place. In many cases, this prerequisite is fulfilled without any problems – for example, in the case of an original commercial (“trading”) activity pursuant to Sect. 15(2) of the Income Tax Act (picked up by Sect. 2(1) sent. 2 of the Trade Tax Act). The situation is even more straightforward for corporations due to an assumption of a trad-ing activity by law (Sect. 2(2) sent. 1 of the Trade Tax Act). However, in which manner are foundations (“Stiftungen”) to be taxed under the Trade Tax Act?