On August 27, 2024, the draft bill for a Financing for the Future Act II (Zwei­tes Zu­kunfts­fi­nan­zie­rungs­ge­setz - ZuFinG II) was published.

The almost 210-page draft also contains fundamental changes to the German Investment Tax Act, which the Federal Ministry of Finance originally presented in May of this year in a discussion draft for a law to promote investments by funds in renewable energies and infrastructure.

The comprehensive abolition of the tax exemption for tax-privileged investors insofar as income from domestic commercial partnerships is concerned, which would have resulted from the discussion draft, was revised when it was incorporated into the draft bill. According to the discussion draft, the tax exemption for domestic income from all commercial partnerships was at risk of being lost from 2025, i.e. for domestic income from partnerships that carry out an commercial activity as well as from deemed commercial or commercially infected partnerships that actually carry out asset management activities (bepartners podcast of May 22, 2024, on the criticism of this).

The abolition of the tax exemption is now limited to domestic income from partnerships that carry out an original commercial activity. We are happy to shed light on this important correction to the discussion draft and other significant changes to the Investment Tax Act for you.

On August 5, the German Federal Ministry of Finance published a draft bill to strengthen the fund market. This is primarily intended to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/927 amending the UCITS and AIFM Directives into national law on a one-to-one basis. However, the Act to Strengthen the Fund Market also contains other points that do not implement EU law but are intended to strengthen Germany as a fund centre. We report on the most interesting aspects.

In late June, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Finance published the ministerial draft of a Second Act to Strengthen Occupational Pensions. Among other things, it provides for amendments to the Regulation on the Investment of the Guarantee Assets of Pensionskassen, Funeral Expenses Funds and Small Insurance Undertakings (Investment Regulation, or Anlageverordnung). The changes will also affect a number of professional pension schemes via references in the relevant state laws. According to the draft, pension funds are not affected.