Impact of Changing Preferential Tax Rate Conditions on Czech Real Estate Investment Funds

This article examines the impact of an amendment to the Income Tax Act that aimed to prevent the so-called real estate funds, whose activities bear the characteristics of ordinary business activities, from applying a preferential tax rate. Only funds whose shares are publicly traded and have the required shareholder structure could newly apply this rate. In response to the legal amendment, several real estate funds have become regular joint stock companies. Funds motivated to maintain a preferential tax rate had their securities admitted to trading. However, it was only a formal fulfilment of the conditions of the law, as the average number of shareholders controlling these funds did not change. For several funds, the shareholder structure has also changed so that they can continue to apply a preferential tax rate. In addition, most of the funds that do not meet the conditions of the Act have manipulated the length of the accounting period by purposeful transformations (mergers, divisions, etc.) in order to postpone the application of the amended wording of the Act and thus gain time for an appropriate response.