Nedsættelse af gaveafgiften ved generationsskifte af erhvervsvirksomheder

Abstract

This master thesis examines the reduction of tax expenses when business companies are handed over to family members. June 2nd 2017 the Danish parliament introduced law no. L 183 (2016/2017). The purpose of the law was to reduce the tax levels progressively from 15% in 2015 to 5% in 2020. The reduction of the gift tax includes both the transfer of equities and personally owned business companies to family members. For family members to have their taxes reduced, the fulfilment of three demands are required: the succession requirement, the ownership requirement and the participant requirement. These three conditions will be examined and categorised into three main subjects; 1. What personally owned business companies and capital companies have in common, 2. What concerns only the personally owned companies, and 3. What concerns only the capital companies? As the three requirements can be subcategorised into three main subjects, this master thesis investigates whether the new legislation results in different tax levels depending on whether the company is handed over as a personally owned company or as a capital company. Those business assets that may result in different calculations of the gift tax when companies are transferred, as either personally owned or capital companies will be examined. Regarding the personally owned companies the tax expenses will be less if the involved parties make use of tax counselling prior to the change in ownership. The counselling may involve planning and/or important dispositions prior to or during the transfer. The thesis involves a case study (an agricultural company) in order to calculate and compare the tax levels for the different types of company. Two calculations are made – one where the company is handed over as a personally owned company and one where the company is handed over as a capital company. The result of the calculation is that the tax expenses are considerably less if the company is transferred as a capital company. The reason behind these findings is that the reduced gift tax for personally owned companies only encompasses the business part of the buildings, whereas the capital company may include up to 49 percent passive capitalization. Hence, it is possible to include more assets in the calculations of the tax reduction in the case of a capital company than in the case of a personally owned company – thus resulting in a larger reduction.