Supervisory Board Tax (Germany)
As Supervisory control is withholding tax referred to by the revenue from the activity as a Supervisory Board member will be retained.
The tax is only deducted for members of a supervisory board (administrative board) with limited tax liability of domestic stock corporations , limited partnerships on shares , mining unions , limited liability companies and other corporations , cooperatives and associations of persons under private and public law ( Section 50a (1) No. 4 Income Tax Act ). In these cases, the remuneration of any kind that is granted to them by the companies mentioned for monitoring the management (supervisory board remuneration) is subject to tax withholding (supervisory board tax).
The supervisory board tax is currently 30% of the remuneration of the supervisory board ( Section 50a (2) sentence 1 EStG). The full amount of the Supervisory Board remuneration without any deduction is subject to the tax deduction. If travel expenses (daily allowances and travel expenses) are granted separately, they are only part of the Supervisory Board remuneration insofar as they exceed the actual expenses.
It is not a separate type of tax, but a special form of collection of income tax, since income from other independent work also includes remuneration for work as a member of the supervisory board. In principle, income tax is settled when the supervisory board tax is levied. If the supervisory board member applies for an assessment or if an assessment is made for other reasons, the income tax levied as supervisory board tax will be offset against the income tax liability.
