Annual Tax Act 2020 - probably no tax liability for Xetra-Gold and similar products.

September 15, 2020

According to the draft bill of the BMF for the Annual Tax Act 2020 of 17.07.2020, it could be assumed that capital investments which are economically comparable with certificates and which are aimed at a payment in kind - e.g. the delivery of gold or other precious metals - are to be subject to the final withholding tax in the future. This idea for a further tightening of taxes on income from capital assets, which according to reports was initiated by the SPD, will hopefully not be implemented after all. The change in § 20 para. 1 No. 7 EStG envisaged in the draft bill is no longer included in the government draft for the Annual Tax Act 2020 (Drucks. 503/20 of 03.09.2020).

The tax advantage for so-called “paper gold” will therefore in all likelihood remain unchanged.

The original proposal was in line with the basic tax ideas of the current Federal Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz, also in connection with the planned financial transaction tax, which would not be content with merely recording securities transactions by professional financial players that endanger the market, but would also affect small investors who are making their own efforts to provide for their private retirement in an increasingly complex financial world. In the case of Xetra-Gold and comparable certificates, which are held by institutional investors, asset managers and family offices, but also to a large extent by private investors, the latter group in particular is not interested in a “quick return”, but primarily in asset protection - a legitimate and increasingly important goal in our view.

Against this backdrop, the about-turn emerging with the government draft is a sensible step. Apart from that, the classification of Xetra-Gold as a capital claim, as it was based on in the BMF’s draft bill, was factually wrong from a tax system perspective.