Tax consultancy

Transaction consulting refers to the independent and qualified support of clients. It involves either the implementation of investment, divestment, or refinancing measures deemed conducive or necessary following a situation analysis, or the legal and financial-economic assessment, optimisation and monitoring of complex investment and financing transactions.

On the one hand, transaction consulting can involve producing an action plan to transform the current situation into a favourable one. On the other hand, transaction consulting may entail assessing the financing feasibility of a planned investment, preparing a financing plan and negotiations. A consultant can work in the background as a consultant or actively assisting clients, be it in dealings with banks or other project participants, managing correspondence, or reviewing various contracts from a financial point of view.

The aim of transaction consulting is always to maintain or achieve financial security and to achieve maximum financial benefit for the client.

Tax structuring consulting involves everything tax-related. Every business decision you make has tax implications. Tax structuring consulting is there to help you weigh up, plan, and optimise the outcomes. For example, as part of tax structuring consulting, we address strategic tax planning to reduce your tax burden, review the tax implications of upcoming decisions, research and advise on tax incentives and investment grants, advise on the choice of legal form from a tax perspective, and much more.

The choice of legal form provides a company with its legal framework. On the one hand, we have sole proprietorships (e. K.), partnerships (e.g. OHG) and corporations (e.g. GmbH, AG). There are also numerous hybrid forms, such as the GmbH & Co. KG and associations.

Certain questions can be asked to narrow down the choice of best legal forms for founders: Is the company a private company or a corporation? How is liability towards creditors governed? Who are the managing directors and who are the shareholders? What obligations and rights do the shareholders have and do they act as natural persons or legal entities? In general, the choice of legal form determines the ownership structure and the distribution of risk within the company. In addition to the company name, the legal form must also be published, meaning it also acts as a source of information for potential business partners. The legal form also provides information on the company’s legal and tax structure.

Simply put, a change of legal form refers to a change in the legal form of a legal entity (company) while allowing the legal entity to retain its legal identity and, in principle, its previous membership rights. Despite its legal form changing, the company’s structures and fundamental organisation remain the same. Other companies are not involved and the company’s assets are not transferred.

Company succession describes a change in the holders of leadership roles in a commercial enterprise. Company successions can be triggered by a number of events:

• transfer of management responsibility to a new salaried managing director or board member from a non-affiliated company;
• sale of an independent company;
• establishment of a foundation and the inclusion of a company;
• lease of a company;
• replacement of a family member by one or more children as the managing partner of a family business.

When it comes to company succession planning, the basic requirements first need to be clarified with the help of an expert:

Does the successor have sufficient commercial knowledge and do they meet the personal requirements?

As the founder of the company, you should have sufficient equity or suitable financial plans and, as the successor to the company, it’s important to enquire about the availability of suitable long-term financing.

As a company successor, available calculations and corresponding cost accounts need to be checked in detail and compared with the actual circumstances, such as those affecting technical equipment, planning, and organisation.

Are there enough qualified employees available to achieve the business ideas? Assessment of medium and long-term market development with questions regarding alternatives.

The success of company succession is largely determined by early planning. This is where we step in.

Seeking expert advice is crucial, especially when it comes to coordinating the handover, taxes, and legal issues. Keep in mind that psychological factors have a relatively large influence on company succession. With a well-conceived company succession plan prepared with the long term in mind, tax advantages can also be utilised accordingly. Good planning helps to secure the future of both the transferor and the successor.

Declaration consulting primarily involves the preparation of tax returns for private individuals as well as companies of all types and legal forms. We can take care of preparing all annual tax returns such as income, corporation and trade tax returns, as well as non-periodic returns such as inheritance and gift tax returns. We check the tax assessments and manage any further correspondence with the tax authorities.

Declaration consulting also includes the preparation of tax returns, in particular income tax, turnover tax, and capital gains tax returns.

In principle, due diligence takes place before the conclusion of a company purchase agreement.

Due diligence refers to the careful examination and analysis of a company with regard to its economic, legal, and primarily tax and financial circumstances, which is undertaken by a potential buyer of a company.

The aim of due diligence is to provide assurance to the potential buyer that all assumptions and prerequisites relating to the company are correct and that all risks have been clarified.

Due diligence is always carried out by experts and external consultants like us. During the due diligence audit, various sources of information such as company documents and data are used and analysed, and discussions are held with the company’s management. The various forms of due diligence include:

• financial due diligence (review of the company’s financial situation)
• market or commercial due diligence (market analysis, analysis of the business model),
• legal due diligence (examination of legal aspects)
• tax due diligence (examination of tax aspects)

A tax audit involves the review of income declared by an entrepreneur. The auditor is tasked with determining and assessing material tax-related matters. This includes all tax-related matters concerning the assessed taxes, i.e. income or corporation tax, VAT and, if applicable, trade tax. For this purpose, the auditor requires documents to be retained in accordance with the German Fiscal Code. This retention requirement applies to all financial accounting documents, asset accounting, payroll accounting and other tax-relevant documents and information.

Under no circumstances should obstacles be placed in the way of the auditor. Instead assistance should be offered. Support must be provided to the auditor to ensure that

• documents specified in the checklist are provided at the start of the audit.
• requested documents are submitted promptly during the audit.
• difficult questions and questions that you cannot answer immediately are discussed with a tax consultant.
• the auditor’s findings are discussed at a final meeting.

The final meeting is particularly important. Under no circumstances should it not be attended.

One of our tax consultants will remain on site to supervise the entire audit.

Why opt for a non-profit status? The main advantage of non-profit status lies in the tax benefits. VAT and corporation tax are largely waived for non-profit, charitable, or religious organisations. However, wage tax and social security contributions still need to be paid if you hire employees.

Work to promote the general public in an intellectual, cultural, moral, or material capacity is defined as charitable. In order to obtain non-profit status, an organisation must solely and directly pursue beneficiary purposes, in practice and according to its articles of association.

Individual requirements for non-profit status are, for example

• the non-profit status must be clearly stated in the organisation’s articles of association
• if the association is dissolved, the assets must be used for a charitable purpose in accordance with the articles of association
• no dividends may be paid to association members other than permitted expense allowances

An organisation’s non-profit status is reviewed from time to time by the tax authorities to determine whether the obligation and the conditions for tax advantages are justified and complied with.

As the term suggests, payroll accounting encompasses the preparation of salary statements and pay slips.

In addition to standard payroll accounting, this also includes activities such as maintaining employee master data, legally required employee registrations and deregistrations, the preparation of contribution statements for health insurance funds, and reporting wage tax to the tax office.

Financial accounting is arguable one of the most important main tasks of a company. Regular analyses provide a constant overview of the company’s situation and ensure reliable data are always available for business planning.

Financial accounting includes the following items:

• setup and organisation of accounting
• asset accounting
• digital document posting
• ongoing financial accounting with electronic document exchange, if necessary
• business analyses
• calculation of preliminary profit
• introduction of cost accounting

Financial and payroll accounting is a time-consuming and complex task that must be carried out conscientiously. Changes in tax and social security law must be accounted for in each instance. It therefore makes sense to outsource all or part of your accounting to a competent partner.

The difference between a freelancer and a trader is that freelancers are not required to pay trade tax, to register a business or maintain double-entry accounts. By contrast, an income and expenditure statement is all that’s required for freelancers.

According to the Income Tax Act (EStG), a distinction is made between three groups of freelancers:

Listed professions such as healthcare professions:
Doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons, alternative practitioners, physiotherapists, midwives, massage therapists and qualified psychologists

Legal, tax and business advisory professions:
Lawyers, patent attorneys, notaries, auditors, tax consultants, tax agents, consulting economists and business economists and sworn auditors

Scientific and technical professions:
Surveyors, commercial chemists, architects, ship pilots and experts

Cultural professions:
Journalists, photojournalists, interpreters, translators, scientists, artists, writers, teachers and educators

Professions similar to listed professions such as Occupational therapist, conductor, photo designer, masseur, riding instructor, actor, copywriter or fashion designer and more

Occupations such as

• Academic work: This includes research, teaching and writing expert reports
• Artistic work: Visual artists, show stars, entertainers or directors
• Writing: Online journalists, publicists, authors or editors
• Educational professions: Operator of a children’s home
• Teaching: Riding instructor or communication trainer

Determining whether someone is a freelancer isn’t always an easy task. The tax office reviews each individual case to determine whether the person in question is eligible. Anyone planning to become a freelancer should seek our advice without hesitation.

We help high-net-worth private individuals achieve the optimal portfolio structure for their assets. Our advisory services range from tax asset planning and optimisation to tax returns and extrajudicial and judicial appeals, lawsuits and legal redress proceedings.