German firms could face legal and tax liabilities linked to dividend stripping trades that have drawn years of scrutiny from authorities and courts.
German firms face up to €7.01 billion in legal and fiscal liabilities tied to cum-ex and cum-cum dividend stripping schemes, according to a reported estimate attributed to BaFin (Germany’s financial regulator). The figure points to the potential financial fallout from trading strategies that allegedly exploited dividend tax refund rules, an issue that has been a long-running legal and political matter in Germany. Cum-ex and cum-cum trades generally refer to share transactions structured around dividend dates to obtain tax advantages or disputed tax refunds.