Management advisory services for investment funds provided by a third party is exempt from VAT according to the ECJ if the recommendations still need to be implemented by the investment management company.

In reaction to the ECJ¹s judgment of 20 October 2011, on 1 March 2013 Germany passed a law on 1 March 2013 according to which EU and EEA corporations are allowed to apply for a refund of the German dividend withholding tax on portfolio dividends under certain conditions. The refund procedure should generally apply to dividends received in 2013 and future periods but also retroactively to dividends received during the 2012 fiscal year or earlier, provided the statute of limitations has not yet lapsed.

On 1 March 2013, the upper house of the German federal parliament agreed to the bill for the implementation of the ECJ judgment of 20 October 2011 in the Case C-284/09. As a result, earnings from shareholdings of less than 10% will be fully taxable for corporate investors as of 1 March 2013. The tax treatment for business investors subject to income tax does not change; these investors continue to be subject to the partial income method (Teileinkünfteverfahren).