Time Account Model for (Shareholder) Managing Director of a GmbH

If the employer and the employee agree that future wages will not be paid out immediately but credited and only paid out later, e.g. in a (pre-)retirement phase with reduced work performance, this is known as a working time account model. This can lead to tax advantages because the credit is then taxable in a phase with lower payments.

After the Federal Fiscal Court ruled that this practice is generally to be recognized for tax purposes even if the employee is an organ of a corporation (e. g. B. managing director of a GmbH), the tax authorities have now also changed their view:

• According to this, working time account models will in principle also be recognized in the future for third-party managing directors who do not hold an interest in the GmbH.
• The same now also applies as a rule to managing directors who hold an interest in the company but do not control it (so-called minority shareholder-managing directors) if the agreements are otherwise arm’s length, i.e. if there is no hidden distribution of profits.
• Only in the case of controlling shareholder -managing directors are working time account models generally still not recognized for tax purposes by the tax authorities. In this case, the crediting of the future salary to the time value account already leads to the inflow of salary.