Financial location update
Startups praise Lindner’s plans
4/4/2023 4:42 p.m
Finance Minister Lindner’s plans to provide more support for start-ups have met with a positive response in the industry. German startups could get a real boost and the location could become more internationally competitive, so the unanimous opinion.
The start-up and digital industry welcomes the plans of Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner to promote start-ups more intensively. “The regulations in the Future Financing Act can give German startups a real boost and make Germany more internationally competitive as a location,” said Christian Miele, chairman of the startup association, in Berlin. The announced changes are “really good news for our startup scene and Germany as a tech location,” added Achim Berg, President of the Bitkom digital association.
Lindner wants to strengthen Germany as a start-up location with a reform of employee participation. The FDP politician wants to significantly increase the tax allowance for employee participation from EUR 1,440 to EUR 5,000, according to a draft law by the Federal Ministry of Finance. “The financial and startup location Germany needs an update,” tweeted Lindner. He also wants to alleviate another problem. Startups often bind employees with investments that can be lucrative later – for example, if the company goes public or is sold.
So far, employees have had to tax their company shares as income after twelve years at the latest – even if no profits from participations have accrued. The startup industry has long complained about this as an international competitive disadvantage. “Instead of after twelve years, unsold shares will only have to be taxed after 20 years,” Bitkom President Berg explained the plans. Above all, there is no taxation when changing employers, at least if the start-up is voluntarily liable for securing the tax claim of employees.
According to the draft, significantly more companies should benefit from the tax advantages in the future. Instead of companies with 250 employees, the new rules should apply to companies with up to 500 employees. Lindner wants to double the turnover threshold from 50 to 100 million, the annual balance sheet total from 43 to 86 million euros. The draft law still has to be voted on within the traffic light coalition.