Capital gain
Capital gains or capital loss is in the control law at the seven types of income of the positive difference (gain) or negative difference (loss) between the acquisition or manufacturing cost and the selling price of an asset .
General
The tax law terms capital gain or capital loss correspond under commercial law to the realized gain or loss from the sale of assets . With both terms it is important to determine whether the inventory of assets results in a profit or loss when they are sold. On the other hand, book profit or book loss in commercial law only arose through valuation measures, without being sold, so that it is a matter of unrealized successes .
For tax law , it is important to determine the profit on the sale, because this is a tax base for income tax . Commercial law is generally interested in the determination of profit and records the capital gains or losses in the profit and loss account . These successes are included in the income statement either as an operating result within the framework of the operating purpose or as an extraordinary result outside of the operating purpose . It concerns income / losses from the disposal of assets , to be booked under “other operating income” ( Section 275 (2) No. 4 HGB ) or “other operating expenses” (Section 275 (2) No. 8 HGB).
Legal definition
The Income Tax Act offers multiple legal definitions that are adapted to the respective type of income . According to Section 14 of the Income Tax Act , income from agriculture and forestry also includes profits that are made on the sale of an agricultural or forestry business or part of it. The gain is released for at operating dispositions of the amount by which the selling price after deducting the costs of disposal of the book value exceeds ( § 16 , para. 2 ITA). Gains on the sale of shares in a corporation are, according to Section 17 (2) EStG, the amount by which the sale price after deduction of the sale costs exceeds the acquisition costs. Thereafter, the capital gain / capital loss is generally determined as follows:
Buchwert eines Vermögensgegenstands
- Veräußerungspreis
- Veräußerungskosten
= Veräußerungsgewinn / Veräußerungsverlust
The book value is the value at which the asset was capitalized in the balance sheet at the time it was sold. The selling price is all consideration that the seller receives from the buyer of the asset, selling costs are the costs that the seller has to bear directly through the sale (e.g. notary fees , transfer taxes ).
Sale objects
In terms of tax law, a sale is when the seller provides the purchaser with civil property or at least economic ownership of the property in return for payment through a legal transaction (e.g. purchase contract ) between two ( natural or legal ) persons . German tax law equates other transactions with a sale (e.g. capital contribution of a participation according to § 17 EStG in a corporation). Assets of the fixed assets come into question as objects of sale :
- Tangible assets : in particular the vehicle fleet , machines , operating and office equipment ;
- Financial assets : in particular participations and securities held as fixed assets.
The current assets are only exceptionally included in the essential operating fundamentals because they are geared towards sales and not use; It is therefore usually not considered an object of sale in the case of capital gains.
Tax regulations (Germany)
A large number of capital gains are assigned to the respective types of income as income . Thus, the capital gain from the sale of self-employed assets belongs to the income from self-employed work ( Section 18 (3) EStG), the profit from the sale of shares held as private assets in a corporation belongs to Section 20 (2) No. 1 EStG on income from capital assets or on commercial income according to § 17 EStG in the case of investments of at least 1%. The other private sales transactions are allocated to other income ( Section 23 EStG).
However, some capital gains remain tax-free. The reinvestment reserve of § 6b EStG allows under certain conditions for land , land rights , buildings and inland waterways a transfer of the capital gain as a reserve ("§ 6b reserve"), so that the realization of these hidden reserves is not taxable. The prerequisite is that assets are purchased in the following 4 (land) or 6 (buildings) years to which this reserve can be offset.
In the case of capital gains , in some cases special allowances or exemption limits must be taken into account to reduce taxes. As so-called negative income, sales losses reduce the assessment basis for taxation and thus the tax burden itself. However, the deduction can only be made if the sale can be assigned to one of the seven types of income. In addition, loss compensation restrictions can delay or prevent tax-reducing effects.
