In its letter dated January 11, 2022, the BMF commented on the application of Section 55 (4) InsO, i.e. on sales tax in insolvency proceedings. Section 55 (4) InsO allocates, among other things, all sales tax liabilities, which in principle should be reported as insolvency claims to the table, as an exception to the liabilities from the estate. Until recently, there was a dispute between the tax authorities and the supreme court as to which types of tax and insolvency proceedings § 55 Para. 4 InsO a. F. should apply. The financial administration applied § 55 para. 4 InsO a. F. analogously to the provisional self-administration. BGH (judgment of November 22, 2018, Az. IX ZR 167/16) and BFH (judgment of May 7, 2020, Az. VR 14/19) did not see the provisional self-administration as covered by its wording. The legislator has now decided this dispute in favor of the tax authorities with the redesign of § 55 Para. 4 InsO on January 1st, 2021. At the same time, he limited the scope of the standard to sales tax and a few selected types of tax. The new BMF letter ties in with the legislative decision and answers a number of open questions from an administrative point of view.
Source KMLZ
