A German tax authority, the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt), is facing significant resistance in the recovery of wrongly claimed Cum-Ex tax refunds. Over 100 financial institutions are contesting the decisions, with 41 appeals and four rejections currently in the legal process. Additionally, there are lawsuits against 58 liability notices.
Cum-Ex transactions aimed to claim multiple refunds of a capital gains tax that was only paid once. The estimated state loss is in the range of two billion euros. The BZSt was responsible for handling the refund claims of foreign financial institutions.
By the end of 2024, the BZSt had issued 154 refund notices totaling over 620 million euros and 68 rejection notices totaling over 1.17 billion euros. Furthermore, it sent 64 liability notices worth 283 million euros, as the original debtors no longer exist, with securities banks or brokers being held liable in such cases.