Services

In close cooperation with gkn advisory GmbH, we design the holding and investment structure most suited from a legal and tax aspect, find and implement governance structures, and build the architecture of your family office. We also create sensible units for special asset classes such as private equity. In doing so, we protect family assets from increased income or inheritance and gift taxes while taking the growing international requirements for compliance, transparency, and supervisory law into account. Our tax concepts are based on the required set of contracts, which we can draw up for you from a single source. We communicate with tax authorities on your behalf, submit applications for tax rulings if required, and support you during tax audits and appeal proceedings.

We accompany succession holistically, considering both strategic and economic aspects. Our succession concept consists of three steps in which we incorporate our many years of experience from comparable projects.

Step 1: Status quo, options and feasibility
A comprehensive determination of facts and ideas provided by the relevant stakeholders is the starting point for the status quo analysis. Based on our established strategy (possibly in cooperation via our gkn advisory GmbH), we develop tax and legal fields of action. In this context we will assess existing legal and tax risks and highlight the need for detailed review where necessary. The result is a feasibility study that outlines the key points of a possible succession in the sense of a roadmap.

We offer modern rolling inheritance tax control systems and can provide indicative business valuations and calculations of deferred tax burdens (administrative assets, payroll, etc.) at any time. Action options to reduce tax burdens can also be modeled and calculated indicatively (e.g. life estate calculations).

Step 2: Detailed examination, valuation, and tax relief analysis
After clarifying the options under consideration, we will perform the relevant detailed tax and legal reviews. This applies particularly if a restructuring of corporate or private assets is necessary prior to succession. We perform dedicated valuations of all asset classes, as well as a determination of the regulations on business asset tax exemption (§§ 13a, b and § 19a Inheritance Tax Act).

Step 3: Implementation and tax declaration
We assist in the implementation of business succession and draft the relevant (tax-appropriate) contractual framework. Finally, we prepare the corresponding declarative statements and gift tax declarations or inheritance tax declarations and accompany the tax assessment procedure.

Typically, there is at least one international party involved with our clients: the asset or asset holder - the company, its owner, or their family. Sometimes all of the above.

This internationality is associated with a colorful bouquet of tax and legal stumbling blocks. What happens if a shareholder moves away or involuntarily stays abroad longer than planned? What are the tax implications of international investments and what are the reporting requirements? What is the effect of a marriage abroad or to a partner with a different nationality?

Tax deprivation and exit taxation rules must be observed, and private international law can lead to surprising results in questions of inheritance law, family law, and matrimonial property law. With our advice we create legal certainty for assets and family.

If desired, we can develop structures for your assets that accommodate mobility within the circle of owners and avoid tax disadvantages. We coordinate the considerations with the relevant foreign legal systems through our network partners. This applies, for example, to foreign investments or to the involvement of asset holders or beneficiaries who live abroad and are to participate in such structures.

We determine the tax-relevant income from capital assets or from private sales transactions for complex assets within the framework of a tax reporting. The tax reporting for individuals includes a statement of creditable capital gains tax and foreign withholding tax, all current income components, and special evaluations of sales transactions - in particular foreign currency gains and losses and forward exchange transactions.
In addition, based on asset reporting, we identify special circumstances that justify the reclaiming of capital gains tax initially withheld by banks in the case of corporate transactions (stock splits, spin-offs, etc.) and prepare the corresponding applications for capital gains tax refunds.
Our tax reporting for business assets is divided into two parts including the tax balance sheet profit determination and the off-balance sheet profit determination. As part of this determination, we create an accounting report that includes all assets and liabilities as well as income and expense components. In addition, the following evaluations are usually prepared:

- Partial exemptions for investment income
- Tax reserve in accordance with §§ 56 (3) InvStG (Investment Taxation Act)
- Stock profit determination (fund acquisitions prior to 2018)
- Creditable withholding taxes by country

When we kick-off a new client relationship, we work with a standardized client history and record all tax-relevant facts in our internal tax management system. The goal is to obtain a comprehensive picture and understanding of our clients. We further specify the various types of income and request information on the individual sources of income - both domestic and foreign, direct and indirect shareholdings, as well entrepreneurial and asset management sources. Our findings are subject to regular plausibility checks.

We reconcile information we receive with our data for the tax return. If our client acquires or establishes a new business entity, we note this in our client overview, take care of the tax registration/assignment of a tax number, and set up the necessary powers of attorney. When it comes to cross-border matters, we work closely with colleagues abroad who are part of our long-established network.

We advise non-profit as well as domestic and foreign family foundations in the context of the establishment of a foundation. We take care of the ongoing foundation law and tax matters. We have a proven specialist in this area as Dr. Klümpen-Neusel was the former head of the foundation center at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG.

To establish a new client relationship, we work with a modern and standardized questionnaire (internal tax management system). The aim is to obtain a comprehensive picture and understanding of our clients. We specifically ask about individual sources of income and assets in Germany and abroad, about indirect and direct shareholdings and trust structures, entrepreneurial and asset management sources. If possible, we interface with an existing wealth reporting system and reconcile its data for the tax return. We also use wealth reporting as a source of information on legal and economic changes in corporate and personal wealth. This enables us to identify tax and legal obstacles at an early stage to take the appropriate planning or structuring action.

Based on our information, we prepare all required tax returns in a legally secure and efficient manner and fulfill reporting obligations under both §§ 138 of the German Tax Code (AO) and the Foreign Trade Ordinance (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung).

Real estate is an essential asset class for our clients. The setup, development and succession of a real estate portfolio must be planned with sensitivity and professionalism all while asking the relevant strategic questions:

Are individual properties purchased to be held for the long term or rather to be developed and restructured? Are certain properties of emotional value (family residence, vacation home on the island of Sylt) and therefore have less focus on investment returns? How will they be financed? Are ongoing returns needed on a private level? Should children be involved in this asset class at an early stage?

Based on the insights we gather from asking these questions, we then identify the right legal structure, e.g. to allow the intended participation of minor children without the need for involvement of third parties such as the family court or supplementary guardians, and to bring about a cohesion of the portfolio. From a tax point of view, we consider which structure provides the most favorable current taxation and how an exit/sale might be realized tax-free. In the case of a planned succession, we will collaborate with you to design a transfer that is as tax efficient as possible.