German Estate Tax, Credit Raters, HFT Study: Compliance
The German government must revise rules that allow families to transfer companies from one generation to the next without paying estate tax after the country’s top court ruled the current exemption is unconstitutional.
The inheritance law gives an unfair advantage to family-owned businesses over individuals passing on non-company assets, the Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court said today in a ruling. The court gave the government until the end of June 2016 to amend the tax rules.
Political and business leaders have expressed concern about the impact of the ruling on the country’s 3 million small and medium-sized companies, most of which are privately owned and serve as the backbone of Europe’s largest economy. Collectively known as the Mittelstand, owners of these companies have said losing the exemption threatens their ability to finance growth.
The German government must revise rules that allow families to transfer companies from one generation to the next without paying estate tax after the country’s top court ruled the current exemption is unconstitutional.
