German Investment Tax Act (GITA)

The German Investment Tax Act 2018 (“GITA”) came into force on 1 January 2018, introducing a tax liability for income derived from securities lending and “real” repurchase agreement (repo) transactions (i.e. manufactured dividends, securities lending fee) with German equities as underlying for German and non-German investment funds as lender. The borrower is obliged to withhold German withholding tax.

ISLA has been working with a number of member firms and other specialist advisers to better understand the implications of this tax regime. This has included some detailed analysis and recommendations undertaken with Price Waterhouse Coopers.