Profit from resale of tickets is taxable

For tax purposes, admission tickets are an asset for which a speculative gain from resale is taxable.

Tickets to popular events can be resold for many times the original purchase price. However, the Federal Fiscal Court considers such sales to be a private speculative transaction, which means that the profit generated is subject to tax. In contrast to the Baden-Württemberg Fiscal Court, which considered admission tickets to be a security but not subject to the tax regulations for capital investments, the federal judges classify admission tickets as securities under civil law only, but as "other economic assets" for tax purposes. With this ruling in its pocket, the tax authorities can now send collective information requests to the relevant online platforms to obtain data on private ticket sales and subsequently claim tax on the sales profit. The dispute involved a profit of just under 3,000 euros from the sale of two tickets for the UEFA Champions League.