• Roughly speaking, his recommendations can be listed like this: Value companies low and pay exit tax, or sell companies beforehand, or maintain tax residence in Germany. So his recommendations are all the respective pragmatic solutions, since all other solutions (Foundation etc.) are significantly more complex and expensive.
  Additionally, it must be noted that these are the only solutions (in my opinion) that he can handle 100%. For all other solutions, one has to bring in another tax advisor (e.g., Juhn), but he also says this openly.
• He notes that, historically seen, the German exit tax has been tightened more and more. If one wants to leave Germany, it would essentially make sense to do so while it is still possible - e.g., when the company is still worth little or when one still finds a solution that works (e.g., paying exit tax, GmbH & Co. KG, etc.).
• As a "young" person (that's me), it can definitely make sense to move away now, since it is to be expected that one will gain significantly in assets. With the now new exit tax on ETFs in private assets, there is already a first tendency to also tax non-entrepreneurs upon moving away.
• One should roughly distinguish between constructs where one needs expensive tax advisors and which might then be audited by the tax office for a long time (Foundation and even more complex setups) and between setups that one can set up oneself, which should pass through more or less problem-free (sale of shares, GmbH & Co. KG, etc.). The question here is certainly also how much personal tolerance (and money) one has if one decides on a complex construct and then in the worst case has to go to court, which can then drag on for years (+ costs for tax advisors etc.). The conclusion for me was that I am probably simply too "poor" for a complex construct, since I don't have the money to pay a tax advisor for forever many hours if the tax office sees everything differently.
• Overall, he basically has these "high-level" thoughts on general strategy that no other tax advisor had in this way. I found that super helpful.

• He wasn't sure if the deferral of the exit tax is even still possible for a move outside the EU.
• Regardless of that, he noted that with such a deferral, correspondingly high deferral interest would apply (the Juhn people didn't know that, for example, interesting). These are usually 5% higher than the respective base interest rate, so substantial. Deferral should therefore be considered carefully.

• He said the exit tax is assessed quite normally within the framework of the income tax return and can then also be offset against other taxes (I didn't know that yet, for example). Accordingly, an idea would be to basically get tax benefits elsewhere, which one could then offset against a high exit tax. These would currently be, for example, investments in renewable energies, donations to charitable foundations, or the renovation of real estate, provided one has owned it for longer than 3 years.
  Also an exciting idea that no other tax advisor had like this.
  (Limitingly, it must be said that I researched the renewable energies thing later and it is not that trivial. These are sometimes closed-end funds with opaque cost structures. Furthermore, one might have to found a sole proprietorship for this, and that is exactly what one doesn't want to do before moving away)

• Can one simply take one's unrealized capital gains along when moving away and then realize them abroad, where there might be no capital gains tax? --> Yes, provided one has less than €500k acquisition cost per ETF. Interesting.

• The problem with the Holding GmbH is that the earnings value might be low (ETF profits etc.), but the asset value is likely very high (= value of the ETFs). Accordingly, the exit tax is high, since one has to tax this value using the partial income method (approx. 30%).
• The question is therefore: Pay exit tax or prefer to distribute everything from the Holding GmbH into private assets beforehand? --> The answer is distribute, because the 26% capital gains tax on distribution is cheaper than the partial income method plus a potentially applicable withholding tax later. Depending on the destination country, it is the case that one would have to pay another 15% German withholding tax upon a later distribution in the destination country (possibly with credit in the destination country, gets complicated). The choice is therefore either 26% German capital gains tax upon direct distribution in Germany before the move, or approx. 30% + 15% tax upon moving and later distribution.
  (By the way, a better solution here might be the contribution of the Holding GmbH into a GmbH & Co. KG. In that scenario, one doesn't have to distribute at all for now and the ETFs can continue to "collect" price gains)

• An appraisal by a certified public accountant easily costs €5k-8k per company. So it gets expensive quickly if one holds shares in multiple companies.
• The simplified earnings value method is cheaper, but also costs approx. €5k per company, and can be done by the tax advisor. Offers less leeway to get a low valuation.
• With the simplified earnings value method, however, one can deduct the so-called arm's length managing director salary. That is probably the biggest lever to get a low valuation (I wrote about that here).
• His recommendation is to take a look at the forms from the tax office for the simplified earnings value method and for the asset value method plus the annexes (here for the asset value method). This makes a lot clearer because one sees, among other things, which deductions are possible in the valuation (managing director salary etc.). Super interesting and helpful, no other tax advisor told me this.

• The exit tax is submitted and assessed within the framework of the income tax return. This gives you relatively a lot of time to submit the tax return and you could even come back by then. For example, if you move away in 2025, you have until the beginning of 2027 to submit the tax return for it. Theoretically, one could return by then and would presumably only pay the interest on the exit tax (if at all). Possibly an option if one is only away for 1-2 years. It is a bit unclear whether, in this case, one still has to value all the companies or simply state in the tax return (expensive) that one is back by now.

• Can I simply invoice my own GmbH after moving away (at arm's length etc.)? --> Yes, that is possible.
  (Finally a concrete answer here)

• The German foundation has the advantage that one can contribute companies partly virtually tax-neutral (exemption need test). However, this must be an operating company that one holds privately. So it doesn't work for Holding GmbHs and also not for companies that the Holding GmbH holds.
• With the Liechtenstein foundation, it is even more difficult to contribute companies (no exemption). Furthermore, one has the exit tax at the company level here, since they are virtually leaving Germany.

Summary: Patrick Straßer (WSK)