The Federal Ministry of Finance has answered some urgent questions raised by the German fund industry in connection with the German Investment Tax Act 2018. In our Newsletter, we highlight some of the comments of the Ministry.

On 16 December 2016, the BaFin presented a draft of the circular relating to the investments of Solvency I insurers and pension funds for public consultation. The final version was recently published with only minor amendments compared to the draft. However, said amendments are important for private equity funds.

In the current financial year 2017, two fiscal courts confirmed the tax classification of distributions from a Luxembourg SICAV organized as a corporation as dividends under the DTT Luxembourg in the version valid until 2013. The Finance Administration has filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court against the judgment of the Finanzgericht Sachsen-Anhalt of 22 March 2017 (Ref. 3 K 383/16). The procedure is conducted there at the first senate under the Az. I R 61/17. The Dusseldorf Finance Court also approved possibility of an appeal in its judgment of 17 October 2017 (Case 6 K 1141/14).