German Federal Cabinet Adopts Draft Annual Tax Act 2026

The German Ministry of Finance has announced that the Federal Cabinet adopted the draft bill for the Annual Tax Act 2026 (Jahressteuergesetzes 2026 - JStG 2026) on 12 August 2026. The main measures include:

• A change to the capital gains tax relief procedure for large foreign shareholders (holding at least 10%), abolishing advance exemption certificates and instead requiring them to submit a refund application for review after each transaction;
• An increase in the threshold below which tax au…