GoingPublic: Stop rampant bureaucracy - Keep the mandatory shareholder information tax within moderate bounds (in German)

In a guest article for Going Public's HV Magazine, Sven E. Hemeling, Head of Primary Market Law, calls for the implementation of shareholder identification under tax law not to result in additional obligations and legal risks for companies. From 2025, listed companies will have an obligation under Section 45b (9) of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) to request information from intermediaries on the identity of their shareholders. This data is to be transmitted by the companies to the Federal Central Tax Office. In addition to the data already received from banks, an additional obligation is now to be imposed on companies to forward further data such as the tax number or date of birth of their shareholders to the Federal Central Tax Office. It must be clarified that companies only have to transmit the data already received via the intermediaries and have no obligation to investigate.

The article was published on 08.08.2023.