Areas of Practice in German Tax and Corporate Law

As a Ger­man attor­ney-at-law and cer­ti­fied spe­cial­ist in tax law (Fachan­wältin für Steuer­recht), I advise busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs, share­hold­ers and high-net-worth indi­vid­u­als on Ger­man tax and cor­po­rate law mat­ters. My prac­tice encom­pass­es inde­pen­dent legal advice on tax mat­ters, the struc­tur­ing of com­pa­nies and share­hold­ings, and legal advice relat­ing to per­son­al wealth arrangements.

A par­tic­u­lar focus lies on sit­u­a­tions where busi­ness deci­sions, cor­po­rate struc­tures, tax require­ments and per­son­al or fam­i­ly inter­ests are close­ly interconnected.

I assist my clients in iden­ti­fy­ing legal risks, assess­ing tax and cor­po­rate law impli­ca­tions and devel­op­ing appro­pri­ate solu­tions. My advice cov­ers both domes­tic Ger­man mat­ters and sit­u­a­tions involv­ing inter­na­tion­al aspects.

The fol­low­ing five areas form the core of my legal practice.

German Tax Law Advice

Tax law ques­tions arise in a wide range of cir­cum­stances. They con­cern busi­ness deci­sions and invest­ments as well as share­hold­ings, per­son­al wealth arrange­ments and changes in fam­i­ly circumstances.

I advise busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs, share­hold­ers and high-net-worth indi­vid­u­als on the legal assess­ment of tax mat­ters. This includes resolv­ing spe­cif­ic tax law ques­tions as well as plan­ning and struc­tur­ing legal and com­mer­cial arrange­ments with their tax impli­ca­tions in mind.

My work par­tic­u­lar­ly cov­ers the tax impli­ca­tions of invest­ments, busi­ness and share­hold­ing deci­sions, asset trans­fers, gifts and inher­i­tances, and busi­ness suc­ces­sion arrangements.

Where the tax author­i­ties take a dif­fer­ent legal posi­tion, I assist clients in exam­in­ing the applic­a­ble law and deter­min­ing an appro­pri­ate course of action.

My prac­tice focus­es on legal advice and the legal assess­ment of tax mat­ters. Ongo­ing tax return prepa­ra­tion, tax com­pli­ance and book­keep­ing are not part of my services.

Learn more about Ger­man Tax Law Advice â†’

Tax-Driven Corporate Structures

The devel­op­ment of cor­po­rate and own­er­ship struc­tures often requires close con­sid­er­a­tion of both cor­po­rate law and tax law.

The choice of legal form, the allo­ca­tion of share­hold­ings, changes among share­hold­ers and the reor­gan­i­sa­tion of exist­ing busi­ness struc­tures can have sig­nif­i­cant legal, com­mer­cial and tax consequences.

I advise entre­pre­neurs and share­hold­ers on the legal plan­ning and imple­men­ta­tion of such changes. This includes cor­po­rate reor­gan­i­sa­tions, changes in own­er­ship, adjust­ments to share­hold­ing struc­tures, and the draft­ing and legal safe­guard­ing of cor­po­rate agreements.

In doing so, I con­sid­er not only the require­ments of cor­po­rate law but also the tax impli­ca­tions for the com­pa­nies and indi­vid­u­als involved.

The objec­tive is to estab­lish a legal­ly sound struc­ture that meets the com­mer­cial needs of the busi­ness and the inter­ests of its shareholders.

Learn more about Tax-Dri­ven Cor­po­rate Structures â†’

Cross-Border Tax Matters

Inter­na­tion­al busi­ness rela­tion­ships, invest­ments in for­eign com­pa­nies and assets held abroad can give rise to com­plex tax law ques­tions. The same applies to per­son­al cir­cum­stances involv­ing more than one country.

I advise busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs, share­hold­ers, com­pa­ny direc­tors and pri­vate indi­vid­u­als on Ger­man tax law mat­ters with an inter­na­tion­al dimension.

These include, in par­tic­u­lar, tax ques­tions aris­ing from relo­ca­tion to or from Ger­many, inter­na­tion­al share­hold­ing struc­tures, for­eign assets and the avoid­ance of dou­ble taxation.

My legal assess­ment takes into account the inter­ac­tion between Ger­man tax leg­is­la­tion, applic­a­ble dou­ble tax­a­tion treaties and oth­er rel­e­vant inter­na­tion­al rules.

Where advice on for­eign law is required, I work with appro­pri­ate­ly qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­als in the rel­e­vant jurisdiction.

Learn more about Cross-Bor­der Tax Matters â†’

Cooperation with Tax Advisers

Tax-relat­ed struc­tur­ing and changes in busi­ness arrange­ments often require coor­di­na­tion between dif­fer­ent areas of pro­fes­sion­al expertise.

I work along­side tax advis­ers, com­ple­ment­ing their ser­vices through inde­pen­dent legal advice. This par­tic­u­lar­ly con­cerns the legal struc­tur­ing of com­pa­nies and share­hold­ings, the draft­ing of con­trac­tu­al arrange­ments, and the assess­ment of legal risks and lia­bil­i­ty issues.

Such coop­er­a­tion may be par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able in cor­po­rate reor­gan­i­sa­tions, changes in share­hold­ings, busi­ness suc­ces­sion arrange­ments and com­plex asset transfers.

The roles and pro­fes­sion­al respon­si­bil­i­ties of the advis­ers involved remain clear­ly defined. This allows tax con­sid­er­a­tions and legal require­ments to be coor­di­nat­ed while main­tain­ing the appro­pri­ate divi­sion of pro­fes­sion­al responsibilities.

Learn more about Coop­er­a­tion with Tax Advisers â†’

Trademark Law

In addi­tion to my tax and cor­po­rate law prac­tice, I advise on select­ed trade­mark law matters.

Trade­mark law has been part of my legal prac­tice for many years. My advice focus­es par­tic­u­lar­ly on mat­ters con­nect­ed with busi­ness activ­i­ties, com­mer­cial inter­ests and cor­po­rate structures.

In doing so, I con­sid­er the impor­tance of trade­mark rights for the busi­ness and its com­mer­cial interests.

Learn more about Trade­mark Law â†’

Individual Legal Advice

Not every tax or cor­po­rate law mat­ter requires com­pre­hen­sive struc­tur­ing or ongo­ing legal support.

Some­times the focus is on a spe­cif­ic legal ques­tion, such as the tax impli­ca­tions of a pro­posed deci­sion, an exist­ing share­hold­ing or an asset transfer.

Oth­er mat­ters require a more exten­sive analy­sis and legal struc­tur­ing to rec­on­cile dif­fer­ent inter­ests and legal requirements.

The nature and scope of my advice depend on the cir­cum­stances and the clien­t’s par­tic­u­lar needs. My ser­vices may there­fore cov­er a clear­ly defined indi­vid­ual legal ques­tion as well as the devel­op­ment and imple­men­ta­tion of a more com­plex legal structure.

Your Enquiry

Would you like to clar­i­fy a Ger­man tax or cor­po­rate law ques­tion or pre­pare a legal struc­tur­ing arrangement?

You are wel­come to briefly out­line your enquiry. I will con­tact you to dis­cuss the appro­pri­ate next steps and the poten­tial scope of my engagement.