Disadvantage of shorter retention periods?
Finanzwende is fighting against the Bureaucracy Relief Act IV, which, among other things, stipulates that accounting documents and invoices should only be kept for eight years instead of ten. The Bundestag approved the project at the end of September. Finanzwende argues that receipts are important evidence in serious tax crimes such as cum-ex and cum-cum stock deals; a statute of limitations of 15 years applies here. Many cases could never be solved if the law comes into force.
“The Bundestag should never have passed the bureaucracy relief law by shortening the retention periods – this regulation primarily relieves tax evaders; for most honest companies, the reduction in bureaucratic burdens is minimal because the receipts are stored digitally,” criticized Schick. Critical statements from the state finance ministries have been available for months.
Financial turnaround: State ministers must correct course
“Almost all state finance ministers voted against shortening the retention periods – no wonder, it’s also about your tax money,” criticized Schick. NRW Finance Minister Marcus Optendrenk made critical comments about the law. Now the prime ministers must have the courage to change course, said Schick.
According to Finanzwende, the new bureaucracy law would affect cum-ex and cum-cum cases that have not yet been investigated. With the help of cum-ex deals, banks and other investors cheated the German state of an estimated at least ten billion euros. Tax offices unknowingly refunded capital gains taxes that had not even been paid. Cum-cum transactions are considered to be related and more widespread, but even less enlightened.
The tax damage from Cum-Cum is conservatively estimated at around 28.5 billion euros, the tax authorities have only recovered a fraction of this, according to Finanzwende.
Financial turnaround proposes deferral regulation
Finanzwende is now relying on an exception in the law: for people and companies under the control of the financial regulator Bafin, the shortening of the retention periods should apply one year later – based on cum-ex investigations. “In our view, the deferral regulation should become a general exception,” demands Schick. This would not endanger the rest of the bureaucracy relief law, but cum-cum clarification would still be possible.
