Tax Print E-mail
Germany
When Danish persons invest in Germany wind turbines they have a limited tax liability in Germany. This means that each year a tax return for the investment in the wind turbine must be filed with the German tax authorities. A Germany auditor prepares the yearly accounts for the wind turbine as well as the tax return for the investor. This documentation can also be used for the investor’s Danish tax return.

In Germany a wind turbine is depreciated on a straight line over 16 years. When investing in an existing wind turbine, the investment can be depreciated on a straight line over the remaining years of the 16-year period.

In the years where the operation of the wind turbine shows a deficit after depreciations, this deficit is accumulated and can be carried forward indefinitely to set off against future profits from the wind turbine.

If you pay taxes in both Denmark and Germany at the same time, the German taxes can be used to reduce the Danish taxes.

Denmark
Natural persons, investing in wind turbines, can use the Danish so called ”Virksomhedsskattelov”, subject to there being not than 10 natural or legal persons owning the wind turbine (or wind turbines, if they are operated as a pool).

Each investor can for tax purposes choose to depreciate up to 25 % per year of the investment in accordance with the reducing-balance method (“saldo-metoden”). The deficit that arises as a consequence of the depreciations can be set off in the investor’s personal income, i.e. in the top bracket taxes. When the depreciations are no longer high enough to eliminate the net profit from the turbines, this profit can be saved in accordance with the provisions of the Danish ”Virksomhedsskattelov”, and the investor can choose to pay taxes on account at a rate of 25 % per year.

At International Wind Energy we do not provide tax advice in any form or to any extent and we do not accept any kind of liability for the investor’s tax situation. We strongly recommend all investors to seek the necessary taxable assistance and we are more than happy to participate in meetings with the investor’s advisors.