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HLB wins groundbreaking legal case in Germany for companies' advantage Münster, June 12, 2012. Companies are expecting a tax saving advantage when purchasing a real estate in another country. Up to now the benefit was only given to the company when investing in domestic property. The company HLB Dr. Schumacher & Partner, Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft (company for auditing and tax consulting) was successful in making the Finance Court Nierdersachsen change the restriction of the so-called 6b-reserve that was only effected on domestic property purchase. The 6b-reserve is considered as an investment fund. The money comes from the profits of selling real estate and can be used for purchasing company locations abroad without taxation. The Finance Court Niedersachsen said that the 6b-reserve being restricted to domestic property purchase is a violation against the European law of freedom of establishment. The Court agreed with the opinion of HLB Schumacher & Partner. The finance office will appeal to the Federal Finance Court. § 6b of the german tax income law says that companies can balance the taxes on profits resulting from the sale of property (building and site), if they take the money as a reserve and spend it on further business premises within 4 years. Up to now this regulation only applied, if the company invested in a domestic real estate. If a company invested in property abroad, the saved money was not free of taxation. If the Federal Finance Court agrees with the Finance Court Niedersachsen that would mean for the companies easy investment abroad. Experts say that especially the medium-sized companies could take advantage of this because they often benefit from the § 6b-reserve. The reason for the legal discussion was a Dutch company - represented by HLB Dr. Schumacher & Partner at Court - which did not want to invest money in Germany for company-related reasons but invested in properties in the Netherlands. About HLB Dr. Schumacher & Partner GmbH The company HLB Dr. Schumacher & Partner GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft (company for auditing and tax consulting) runs its business for more than 80 years in the sector of auditing and tax consulting. In 2011 the HLB Dr. Schumacher & Partner Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft (lawyer's company) was founded to meet the increased demand of qualified legal counselling. Right now there are more than 100 highly qualified staff members working at the locations at Münster, Düsseldorf and Leipzig to advise and support national and international operating companies. For more information see http://www.schumacher-partner.de/
Articles on the HLBI website are intended to provide general guidance on matters of interest. Before considering its application to your own circumstances, HLB International and the author recommend that you obtain professional advice from a suitably qualified person. Neither HLB International nor any member firm of HLB International accepts responsibility for any step you may take, or fail to take, on the basis of the above item.
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