Standard third-party interest on a shareholder clearing account

Interest on the shareholder clearing account that is not at arm's length can lead to a hidden profit distribution even in a low interest rate environment.

The waiver of appropriate interest on the GmbH's loan claim against a shareholder recorded in a shareholder clearing account can lead to a hidden profit distribution. With this decision, the Federal Fiscal Court has confirmed the principle that the unremunerated withdrawal of liquidity at the expense of the GmbH regularly leads to a hidden profit distribution. If the GmbH itself has no liabilities whose interest rate can serve as a reference point for an appropriate interest rate, the Federal Fiscal Court considers the principle of margin sharing to be justified even in a structurally low interest rate environment. Margin sharing is based on the empirical principle that private lenders and borrowers generally share the customary bank margin between debit and credit interest rates. The arm's length interest rate to be used for the assessment of a hidden profit distribution is therefore the average of comparable bank deposits and loans.