The investigation and processing of the Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum cases are progressing, with both the number of concluded cases and the total amount reclaimed increasing in both areas. This is according to the latest report from the Federal Ministry of Finance to the Finance Committee of the Bundestag, as reported by “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.”
In the Cum-Ex fraud cases, 208 procedures have been definitively concluded, leading to the recovery of approximately €3.57 billion in capital gains tax, including the solidarity surcharge, or resulting in the rejection of corresponding refund applications. In the last evaluation, dated December 31, 2024, 188 cases were reported as definitively concluded, involving capital gains tax amounting to roughly €3.1 billion.
Regarding Cum-Cum, tax proceedings have reached a definitive conclusion in 96 cases. In these instances, the state demanded €840 million in capital gains tax or refused to recognize the tax credit against the tax liability. As of the end of December 2024, the figures stood at 81 cases with a volume of nearly €227 million.
Concerns have been raised by political figures about the scale of the problem. Isabelle Vandre, a Member of the Bundestag for The Left Party and a spokesperson for combating financial crime, noted that within a year, the definitive claims stemming from Cum-Cum transactions had nearly quadrupled. She argued that this showed that when compliance is rigorous, funds are either recovered or not disbursed in the first place. However, Vandre criticized that compared to the estimated damage of €28 billion, these current recoveries remain only a fraction.
Cum-Ex deals, which peaked between 2006 and 2011, are considered the largest tax fraud in the history of the Federal Republic. In these schemes, banks and other investors exploited a confusion surrounding stocks, receiving tax refunds from tax offices on taxes they had never actually paid. Cum-Cum transactions, conversely, involved banks creating illegal tax advantages for foreign owners of German stocks by shifting the ownership of German companies’ shares around the dividend cutoff date, both domestically and abroad.
