Tax Law Specialist

Attorney Leander J. Gast has been a specialist lawyer for tax law since April 9, 2008.

In Berlin there are a total of 276 licensed specialist lawyers for tax law, nationwide there are 4923 (as of 01.01.2015, source: Federal Chamber of Lawyers, https://www.brak.de/w/files/04_fuer_journalisten/statisticen/2015/statistic_fa_zum-1.12015.pdf ).

The prerequisite for being awarded a specialist lawyer title is three years of admission and activity within the last six years before the application, § 3 Specialist Lawyers Act (FAO).

The acquisition of special theoretical knowledge usually presupposes that the applicant has taken part in a preparatory course for the specialist lawyer title, which covers all relevant areas of the specialist area. The total duration of the course must be at least 120 hours. In the field of tax law, 40 hours are added for bookkeeping and accounting, § 4 Para. 1 FAO.

The applicant must have undergone at least 3 written performance assessments (supervised work) from different areas of the course. A performance assessment must take up at least one hour and may not exceed five hours. The total duration of the passed performance assessments must not be less than fifteen hours, § 4a FAO.

Attorney Gast passed all performance checks for the title of specialist lawyer in tax law with the top mark "very good".

According to § 9 FAO, knowledge in the following areas must be proven for the specialist lawyer in tax law:

• Bookkeeping and accounting including the law of bookkeeping and annual accounts,
• General tax law including assessment and procedural law,
• Special tax and duty law in the areas of income, corporation and trade tax, sales tax and real estate transfer tax law, inheritance and gift tax law,
• Criminal tax law and the basics of consumption tax and international tax law, including customs law.

Pursuant to Section 5 (1) (b) FAO, the acquisition of special practical experience requires that the applicant has worked personally and independently as a lawyer within the last three years before submitting the application in the specialist field:

• 50 cases from all areas mentioned in § 9 FAO;
• at least 5 cases must cover all types of tax mentioned in § 9 No. 3;
• at least 10 cases must be formal legal proceedings (objection or complaint proceedings);
• The importance, scope and difficulty of individual cases can lead to a different weighting, Section 5 (4) FAO.

The special theoretical and practical knowledge must be proven in accordance with § 6 FAO.

The committee can hold a technical discussion to demonstrate the special theoretical knowledge or practical experience. However, he can refrain from doing so if he can give his opinion to the Board of Directors with regard to the special theoretical knowledge or the special practical experience based on the overall impression of the submitted certificates and written documents without a technical discussion, § 7 Para. 1 FAO.

Anyone who holds the title of specialist lawyer must publish scientifically in this field annually or at least attend one advanced training event for lawyers, either as a lecturer or as a listener. The total duration of the training must not be less than 15 hours. This must be proven to the bar without being asked, § 15 FAO.