Criminal case Seegrasstadl: public prosecutor investigates because of tax haven in the Ebersberg forest
Created: 06/14/2022, 05:53
By: Josef Ametsbichler
Questionable idyll: Numerous letterbox companies did business at the address of the Seegrasstadl near St. Hubertus in the Ebersberg Forest.
© Stefan Rossmann
The financial debacle of the district of Ebersberg and its tax oasis in the Ebersberg Forest is apparently growing into a criminal case.
Target: a bank that denies the allegations.
District – The trade tax disaster, which the district of Ebersberg is dealing with due to its self-created tax oasis in the Ebersberg Forest, apparently has other legal branches in its wake.
As the affected bank confirmed to the Ebersberger Zeitung on Monday, the public prosecutor is now investigating managers of a Unicredit subsidiary with its Germany brand Hypovereinsbank (HVB).
The company in question, called "WealthCap", settled closed investment funds in the Ebersberger Forest in 2005, which traded in aircraft investments, for example.
The public prosecutor's office apparently senses a case of trade tax evasion in the millions in this business conduct, reports the SZ.
The Munich investigative authority itself does not comment on this with reference to tax secrecy.
The newspaper writes that the tax damage exceeds the ten million euro mark, but some of the possible offenses are statute-barred.
HVB/UniCredit: "All tax obligations fulfilled"
The HVB/UniCredit rejects the allegations of tax evasion on
EZ
request with clear words: "Of course, the WealthCap funds have fulfilled all tax obligations," writes a spokesman.
One cooperates in full transparency with all involved authorities.
No further comments are made publicly on ongoing investigations, so we ask for your understanding.
The bank's insistence on the legality of its subsidiary's business practices is also likely to be due to the fact that the tax-saving model in the Ebersberg Forest was created at the instigation of the local authorities, who are said to have zealously promoted it - a whole series of companies finally reported theirs Based at the address of the Seegrasstadl near St. Hubertus.
The forest as a tax haven - because it does not belong to any municipality
Most of the time there, only a few metal mailboxes with exotic company names bore witness to the financial deals that were transacted via the location in the forest.
The investment companies came because of the lowest possible tax rate of 200 percent.
This applies in the forest because it is an "extra-Märkisches area" that does not belong to any municipality.
The tax-saving euphoria is long gone.
District administrator Robert Niedergesäß announced in December 2020 that the district had terminated the corresponding leases.
By then the matter had long since developed into a financial crisis: the Ebersberg tax office, the district office had to report, had changed its legal opinion 15 years after it was set up: the trade tax paid at the Seegrasstadl was not due to the Ebersberg district, but to the city of Munich.
Apparently, the tax authority does not see a plausible company headquarters in a barn in the forest for some international investment transactions.
The city of Munich and the district of Ebersberg are fighting over 23.5 million euros
The district of Ebersberg is now arguing with the tax authorities in the first instance before the Munich Finance Court.
The district is legally defending itself against the trade tax assessment in favor of the state capital Munich,” the district authority announced.
Including interest, it is about 23.5 million euros, which the district paid to the state capital under protest and now wants back.
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"We insist on the judicial clarification of this legal issue," the district administrator said as soon as the dispute became known.
After all, the district office has always secured itself legally, emphasized district finance manager Brigitte Keller: "We have not taken a step without the tax office." The district therefore wants to take legal action to the highest instance in the dispute with the tax authorities if necessary.
Incidentally, the public prosecutor's office is not investigating political and official decision-makers in the Ebersberg district, according to the district office when asked by
EZ
.
You can find more current news from the district of Ebersberg at Merkur.de/Ebersberg.
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