Corporate actions
Splits, spin-offs, mergers, bonus shares: in a corporate action your holdings change without you buying or selling anything. Germany treats many of them as tax-neutral and carries the cost basis forward (§ 20 Abs. 4a EStG). capi.tax recognises common cases — for unusual ones, a tax advisor's eye is worth it.
Why this is tricky with US brokers
A German broker applies § 20 Abs. 4a EStG automatically. Interactive Brokers and Tastytrade do not — they book the action as a plain quantity and cost change following US logic. The cost figure they report is often wrong for German purposes. What matters is preserving the original acquisition date: it drives the FIFO order and the grandfathering of pre-2009 holdings.
Split and reverse split
Tax-neutral. The total cost basis stays the same, only the per-share price is rescaled, and the acquisition date is retained. If a reverse split pays out a fraction in cash, that small part alone is a sale.
Spin-off (Abspaltung)
Receiving shares from a spin-off is usually tax-neutral: the original cost basis is split between the old and the new company, and the acquisition date carries over (§ 20 Abs. 4a S. 7 EStG). The Federal Fiscal Court confirmed this for US spin-offs too. The tricky part is the allocation ratio — usually based on the first exchange prices after the spin-off.
Merger and bonus shares
In a merger (old shares exchanged for new), cost basis and date carry forward; a cash component, by contrast, is taxable. Bonus shares granted without payment are often booked at €0 — tax then falls due only on the later sale. It is different for a scrip dividend, where you could choose between cash and shares: that is taxable as a dividend.
Return of capital: take care
A "return of capital" payment from a US company is not automatically the same as a German return of contributed capital (Einlagenrückgewähr). Since 2023 this requires a determination procedure at the Federal Central Tax Office (§ 27 Abs. 8 KStG). capi.tax cannot decide this for you — here, tax advice makes sense.
capi.tax prepares your data and is not tax advice. Please review the figures and ask a tax advisor (Steuerberater) about your personal situation.