Loss offset

As a custodian bank, we are required by law to carry out loss offsetting. This is regulated in the German Income Tax Act ยง43 a, paragraph (3) sentence 2 EStG.

For each transaction or income entry made during a tax year, a check is made to determine whether a tax liability exists.

If there is a tax liability, the tax incurred is calculated for each transaction/income entry and paid directly to the tax office.

In the case of loss offsetting, the gains and losses incurred over the year are offset against each other, taking into account exemption orders, non-assessment certificates (NV certificates), loss offsetting or withholding tax pots from your investments.

On the basis of this annual assessment, a tax refund or tax claim may result.

Either you will receive a refund of overpaid taxes or there will be a requirement due to underpaid taxes.

Please note that it is also possible to optimize the loss offset sequence without resulting in a tax refund or claim. This may be the case, for example, if the exemption order is utilized during the year and losses are subsequently realized.

There are various reasons for an under-withholding of taxes during the year, for example:

  • Revocation of a non-assessment certificate.
  • Subsequent withholding of church tax is possible by submitting a joint exemption order for a joint custody account of spouses or civil partners.
  • Advance lump sums that result in a small tax amount in the cent range are not requested directly, as there is the possibility that compensation will be made during the course of the year via exemption options (increase in exemption order, build-up of loss offset pots, etc.).
  • Corrections from retroactive changes in the partial exemption class of funds.
  • So-called "delta corrections" that result in a change in tax bases without reversing and re-accounting the affected transactions or income calculations.

After the loss offset has been carried out, Fondsdepot Bank will send the affected customers either an "Information on tax refund" or an "Information on tax request".
Customers with access to InfoManager will receive this information in digital form. Tax requests as well as requests for a current reference bank account will additionally be sent to the affected customers by mail.

Tax requests are automatically debited to your clearing account or collected by direct debit from your reference bank account. If you do not have a clearing account with us or we do not have a reference bank account, you will receive a tax request. It is important that the tax demand is transferred to the specified bank account of Fondsdepot Bank for forwarding to the tax office, observing the payment deadline of 14 days. The reason for payment must also be stated. Only in this way is it possible to clearly allocate the incoming payment.

As the custodian, Fondsdepot Bank is required by law to report any tax requested by the customer that has not been paid to the permanent establishment tax office. This report must be made no later than 28.02. of the following year.

For tax requests relating to the tax year 2023, this means that the report must be made by 28.02.2024. This reporting obligation is also regulated in the Income Tax Act. The legislator does not stipulate an amount limit, which means that even the smallest amounts must be reported.

Further processing of the report on requested and unpaid tax is the responsibility of the tax authorities.

We will refund any overpaid taxes to your reference bank account stored in the securities account. If there is no reference bank account on file, we will inform you by mail. In this case, please provide us with current bank details by February 15 of the current year.

If we do not receive current bank details within the specified period, we will return the amount to be refunded to the tax office.

Fondsdepot Bank remits paid tax amounts to the tax office.

Do you still have questions about offsetting losses?

Then contact us by e-mail at info(at)fondsdepotbank.de.