On Tuesday, the economic leader Näder will be honored with the Leibniz Ring. The laudation is given by Sigmar Gabriel - he honors a man who takes advantage of some opportunities for “tax optimization”. Which Gabriel, as far as he knows, cannot please.
On Tuesday, Sigmar Gabriel has one of the not so frequent official appointments that his duty roster provides in Germany. Gabriel, Foreign Minister of the executive black and red federal government, will give a laudation in Hanover for Hans Georg Näder, head of the prosthesis manufacturer Otto Bock . Näder receives the Leibniz Ring, which is awarded for outstanding social commitment. Which does not lack a certain piquancy.
On the one hand, Näder is a great patron of the arts. He also has his own foundation to support seriously injured children from war and disaster areas such as Aleppo. What Sigmar Gabriel should like. On the other hand, the head of the company has a weakness for large sailing yachts - and the associated opportunities to pursue this hobby in a way that saves money from the German tax authorities. Which Gabriel, if he knows it at all, cannot please.
Only last year, after the publication of the so-called Panama Papers, the head of the SPD complained about tax havens: “If the common good is lost to 150 billion euros every year … because the rich and super-rich have given up all solidarity with society, then it’s radically anti-social - and a radical attack on the foundations of this society. We have to fend off that. "
Following this line of argument, the Foreign Minister would also have to be critical of the head of the Duderstadt-based company that he will be honoring next week.
Näder - himself an avowed boat enthusiast - uses the advantages of the European tax haven Malta to buy Pink Gin Ltd, registered there under registration number C49990, to operate his 175 foot yacht “Pink Gin VI”. The director of the company is Juan Borg Manduca. The boat, whose value experts on the scene estimate at around 60 million euros, was built by Baltic Yachts in Finland - a shipyard that is now also owned by Näder.
Like many other wealthy people, the entrepreneur uses the tax framework in Malta to save VAT on the expensive purchase in his home country Germany. As a rule, two leasing companies are set up in Malta for this purpose. One acts as a lessor and is a commercial company with a VAT number. The other, as the lessee, is the non-commercial company that is subject to VAT. The Maltese sales tax of 18 percent is payable on the leasing installments.
Because the Maltese tax authorities assume that ships of a certain size spend a maximum of 30 percent of their operating time in EU waters, only 30 percent of the leasing rates would be effectively taxed at 5.4 percent, calculates an expert on the model. Additional advantage: after the leasing period has expired, the lessee can buy the yacht from the lessor at a purchase price of one percent of the new value. Once again, only a reduced VAT is due. Compared to what would have to be paid in Germany, this is a great deal.
Which nobody at Otto Bock denies.
“Hans Georg Näder makes no secret of the fact that he lets a boat sail under the Maltese flag,” said a spokesman when asked. This is combined with a common finance leasing for ships, which is now standard within the EU. “The decision in favor of Malta was made because of the prevailing conditions there for the use of aircraft and watercraft.” One consequence of this: it saves the VAT that would have to be paid here. “This construction is legal, transparent and known to the German tax authorities.” But Näder also opted for Malta because the Maltese flag enjoys a high reputation among boat enthusiasts.
Näder’s environment does not want to get involved in the discussion as to whether it is ethically correct as a wealthy entrepreneur to use such opportunities for tax optimization. “What speaks against saving tax on a ship registered in Malta in order to use it elsewhere, more sensibly?”
The question is whether the laudator Gabriel sees it similarly.
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