Germany: Real Estate

On 13 May 2026, the German federal cabinet approved the following draft legislation: Act Amending the Building Energy Act; Amending the Building Electromobility Infrastructure Act; and Amending Further Provisions in the Heating Sector. Its centrepiece is the new Building Modernisation Act. The federal government's original target of entry into force by 01 July 2026 now appears unlikely given the parliamentary process ahead. 

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Portugal's real estate transfer tax on restructurings violates the Capital Duty Directive when applied to share contributions in companies holding real estate. This landmark decision has significant implications for German real estate transfer tax law, where similar provisions exist for share deals involving property-holding companies, potentially rendering certain tax assessments incompatible with EU law.

German tax accounting rules for building-related expenditures are undergoing significant change, particularly affecting energy-efficient refurbishments. Recent guidance from the Institute of Public Auditors and the Federal Ministry of Finance has expanded the scope of capitalizable costs, creating potential divergences between commercial and tax treatment that require careful navigation by tax advisors.

In many cases, holiday homes and other self-used properties are not held directly, but through a corporation. This is particularly the case in Spain, which is very popular with Germans, but also in many other regions of the world, such as the United Arab Emirates (Dubai) or South Africa.

The Fourth Bureaucracy Reduction Act (BEG IV) took effect Jan. 1, 2025, introducing a major change for commercial leases. Compliance with the statutory written form...

Join us for a new episode of Financial Services Focus with partner Martin Heuber, leader of the German office's Banking & Finance practice.

Der Bundesrat hat am Freitag, den 25. November 2022, das zuvor bereits durch den Bundestag beschlossene „Gesetz zur Aufteilung der Kohlendioxidkosten" (CO2KostAufG) gebilligt.

On Friday, 11 November 2022, the Bundestag factions of the traffic light coalition introduced a draft for a so-called second Sanctions Enforcement Act (Sanktionsdurchsetzungsgesetz II; SDG II) into the Bundestag.

According to the current draft of the German Annual Tax Act 2022 [Jahressteuergesetz 2022, JStG 2022], which will apply from 01 January 2023, the regulations on the valuation of gifts...