The Hamburg private bank could flourish with new additional tax demands.
(Photo: IMAGO/Hanno Bode)
Hamburg The Hamburger Warburg Bank, which was involved in the Cum-Ex scandal, is faced with additional tax claims of almost 100 million euros. This time, however, it’s not about cum-ex, but about so-called cum-cum deals. Shares held by foreign investors were transferred to domestic shareholders, such as banks, shortly before the dividend record date.
They could then have the capital gains tax credited or refunded. The shares were then returned along with the dividend. Experts assume that the tax damage from these transactions is even higher than with the cum-ex deals, which are estimated at ten billion euros.
The Warburg Bank confirmed a “Spiegel” report, according to which the Hamburg tax authorities demanded 98.6 million euros from the private bank. “It is (…) correct that there is this additional tax requirement, see also our 2021 annual financial statements in the Federal Gazette,” said a spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. However, an objection has been filed against the notice of additional claims for the years 2011 to 2014 and the notice has thus been suspended.
“We are currently not assuming any further significant burdens for Warburg Bank in connection with so-called cum/cum transactions,” said the spokeswoman. Warburg Bank and Warburg Invest would not have had any tax advantages as a result of the transactions. The bank only served as a custodian. “Rather, the tax advantages benefited the owners of the shares or investors in the special funds,” emphasized the spokeswoman.
The Hamburg tax authorities did not want to comment on the specific case and referred to tax secrecy. Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD) told the dpa: “We consistently pursue cum-cum designs and demand them back as soon as we have the legal opportunity to do so.”
Five billion euros in tax damage
According to figures available to dpa, the tax authorities of the federal states are currently processing more than 170 cum-cum cases with tax losses of more than five billion euros. So far, about 275 million euros have been reclaimed.
>> Read here: ‘Spiritual father’ of Dutch cum-ex deals arrested
Dressel emphasized: “The fact that we are in second place in a country comparison in terms of the recovery rate shows that Hamburg has no enforcement deficit here.” This is exactly what the Hamburg authorities were accused of in connection with the cum-ex transactions of Warburg Bank.
Among others, the then Mayor of Hamburg and current Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is said to have exerted political influence after meetings with the bankers Max Warburg and Christian Olearius, so that the tax office initially refrained from recovering millions.
An investigative committee of the Hamburg Parliament has been trying to get to the bottom of the allegations for more than two and a half years. Scholz rejects any influence. In Berlin, the Union and the SPD are arguing about another committee of inquiry in the Bundestag. The Warburg Bank itself finally had to repay more than 176 million euros in unjustly refunded taxes due to a court order, but is still trying to take legal action against the changed tax assessments.
More: Hanno Berger sentenced to more than eight years in prison in the Cum-Ex trial