Germany's highest tax court gives hope to owners of expensive motorhomes and other luxury goods: the tax authorities may not necessarily impose speculation tax on short-term purchases and resales, as the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has ruled. The specific individual case concerned a motorhome costing 323,000 euros, which a Saxon couple had bought and sold within a few months. In principle, however, the decision would also apply to yachts, private aircraft and other items, as Jens Reddig, judge at the 9th BFH Senate, explained.
Couple made small loss - tax office calculated profit
However, a whole series of conditions must be met for this to happen. Firstly, the items must be commodities that lose value over time or at least have no potential to increase in value - which excludes gold coins, shares or real estate. The couple had temporarily rented out the mobile home they purchased in June 2020 and sold it again after a few months in March 2021 for 315,000 euros at a loss of 8,000 euros. However, the local tax office had calculated a profit of 14,000 euros because the officials considered the usual tax depreciation for wear and tear to be a profit.
The item does not have to be used on a daily basis.
The tax assessment was based on Section 22 of the Income Tax Act, known as speculation tax, according to which private sales transactions are taxable within certain periods - ten years for real estate and one year for "other assets". However, according to the law, "items of daily use" are exempt from speculation tax. The Saxon tax court had already ruled in favor of the couple in the first instance and considered the mobile home to be a commodity, and the BFH agrees. According to the ruling, it does not matter how often the item in question is actually used. "What you do with it is not the decisive factor," said Reddig. And the price is also irrelevant. According to the ruling, a luxury item can also be a commodity.
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