Finanzkriminalität: Grüne kritisieren Stellenabbau bei Betriebsprüfern

The Green Party in the Bundestag worries that planned staff cuts at federal audit offices could hinder the detection of Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum transactions. Katharina Beck, the Green financial policy expert, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that cutting positions at the federal audit offices, where they are particularly needed, is "utter nonsense".

This exacerbates the budget situation and worsens the conditions for the businesses, which often face delayed and prolonged audits. Every position there is financially worthwhile, as each audit office, working together with the states, recovers nearly nine million euros on average. The government reported a "tax surplus" of 4.37 billion euros last year.

According to the Federal Ministry of Finance's response to a parliamentary inquiry, there were 492 audit office positions occupied in the Federal Central Tax Office during the same period. Their work is crucial for the "exposure or tax recognition" of such transactions. Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum transactions involve tax evasion based on the manipulation of shares around the dividend cut-off date, and Cum-Ex transactions specifically involve claiming capital gains tax on non-existent dividends.

The international Cum-Cum transactions avoid the payment of capital gains tax altogether. The Federal Central Tax Office currently handles six cases related to Cum-Cum transactions with a recovery amount of about 46 million euros, which is insignificant, according to Beck. However, the scientists estimate the tax damage caused by Cum-Cum to be up to 28.5 billion euros, making it vastly greater.

The Greens' financial policy expert criticized the fact that the Federal Central Tax Office still has only 37 employees available to handle these extremely complex cases, while positions in supporting departments are even being cut.