Insolvency tax law

This specialisation covers all tax issues that may arise in the insolvency and restructuring of a company or private individual.

Our clients

We not only advise the company threatened with insolvency, its shareholders and management, but also the tax advisor and the insolvency administrator.

Our areas of activity

We primarily advise on how to avert the crisis in the most tax-optimised way possible while avoiding liability risks. Independently of this, we continue the tax appeal proceedings for the parties involved in the crisis and take over the criminal defence.

In addition to these traditional areas, we are also increasingly active in new problem areas.

Insolvency administrators are increasingly becoming the focus of the tax authorities, tax investigators and public prosecutors, as they have to fulfil the debtor's tax obligations under time pressure and often with insufficient information, even for the period prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings.

Following a change in case law by the Federal Court of Justice in 2017 and the introduction of Section 102 StaRUG, tax advisors' duties of care have become more stringent in the event of a client crisis. It is becoming increasingly difficult for advisors to collect their own fees in a way that is as contestable as possible and to find the right time to terminate the mandate.

Our team

RA and FAfStR Dr Klaus Olbing has been Chairman of the Tax Law Committee and a member of the Insolvency Law Committee at the DAV for many years. He speaks on these topics at many specialist events. He also publishes regularly on insolvency tax law (e.g. co-author in the RWS commentary InsO on income tax law, in Streck, KStG Kommentar zu §§ 8 c und d and in Thierhoff, Unternehmenssanierung). In this capacity, he was voted Tax Lawyer of the Year in the Handelsblatt in 2019.

RA, FAfStR and StB Dr Daniel Sommer - he also lectures in this field, trains insolvency administrators and publishes in specialist journals.

Competence team for Insolvency tax law:

Dr. Klaus Olbing
Berlin

Dr. Markus Wollweber
Cologne

Cristian Esteves Gomes
Munich

Dr. Daniel Sommer
Cologne