After a long period of uncertainty as to whether the preferential gift tax regime for business assets is applicable if the donor has withdrawn substantial extraordinary operating assets (wesentliches Sonderbetriebsvermögen) or transferred them to another business (partnership) prior to the gift, the German Federal Tax Court confirmed the applicability in his decision of 17 June 2020, II R 33/17.
Dr Nils Wighardt and Jonathan Storz have published remarks on the decision in the tax journal Zeitschrift für Erbrecht und Vermögensnachfolge (ZEV) and have contextualized the decision with regard to the new Administrative Guidance on the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act and the possible effects on income tax law (ZEV 2021, p. 49).
