Stock Corporation Law Revision - Interim Dividends

The revision of the new stock corporation law has been underway since 2014 and was finally adopted by Parliament in 2020. The main part of the new provisions will come into force definitively on January 1, 2023. Among other things, it will now also be possible to distribute dividends from profits of the current year.

Interim Financial Statement

To distribute such a dividend from current profits, it is necessary to prepare an interim financial statement. In general, the same principles as for the preparation of the regular annual financial statement must be applied. Thus, the interim financial statement also consists of a balance sheet, income statement, and notes, where additionally, the purpose of preparing the interim financial statement must be mentioned in the notes. In principle, the interim financial statement must be audited by an audit firm. An audit can be waived if all shareholders agree to the distribution and the claims of creditors are not endangered or in the case of opting-out.

Resolution of the General Meeting

The distribution of an interim dividend must be recorded in a general meeting resolution. Additionally, as with the distribution of an ordinary dividend, the submission of forms to the ESTV and the payment of withholding tax must be considered.

• Further information
   
• Calculate offer for fiduciary