ProRealTime German tax return with BubbleTax
ProRealTime and German taxes
ProRealTime SAS from Rueil-Malmaison near Paris has been known since 2001 mainly as charting and analysis software: the platform comes as an installed version, in the browser and as an app, with more than 100 technical indicators. The company is authorised in France as an investment firm by ACPR and AMF and receives orders that it transmits to partner brokers: Interactive Brokers or Saxo Bank, plus an IG account. Support answers in German by phone, email and screen sharing.
The account is therefore not held at ProRealTime but at the executing broker. If your account runs through Interactive Brokers, the usual rules apply: no German capital gains tax withheld, no tax certificate under § 45a EStG, the income belongs in your Anlage KAP, KAP-INV and SO.
Only the IBKR account provides the Flex Query
BubbleTax processes ProRealTime accounts that are executed through Interactive Brokers. For them you create a Flex Query in the Interactive Brokers account management following the guide and export one XML file per tax year. Accounts at Saxo Bank or IG do not provide this format and cannot be uploaded. The charts and order lists from the ProRealTime software itself are not needed for the report; all tax-relevant data is in the IBKR export.
ProRealTime users frequently trade futures, indices and options. BubbleTax assigns these derivatives separately from share sales, accounts for writer premiums and closing trades and converts every trade at the ECB rate of the trading day. Share and ETF sales follow the FIFO calculation.
ProRealTime recommends BubbleTax
ProRealTime recommends BubbleTax to its German clients. Clients receive a coupon code from ProRealTime for checkout; the preview of the calculated figures is visible without a coupon.
How it works
- Export the Flex Query: in the IBKR account management of the ProRealTime account, XML format, period equal to the tax year
- Upload: to BubbleTax, the preview of the figures is free
- Redeem the coupon: enter the ProRealTime coupon at checkout
- Download the report: PDF with the figures for Anlage KAP, KAP-INV and SO
In brief
The technical terms on this page, one paragraph each. Legal bases in brackets.
- Flex Query
- The configurable data export in the Interactive Brokers account management, also used by introducing brokers such as CapTrader or LYNX. BubbleTax needs it as an XML file with nine sections. Once set up, you export it again for each tax year.
- FIFO
- First In, First Out: when you sell, the units bought first count as sold first (§ 20 Abs. 4 Satz 7 EStG). This determines the acquisition cost and thus the gain or loss. IBKR uses other methods by default; BubbleTax rebuilds the positions under FIFO.
- Vorabpauschale
- A notional minimum return on fund units (§ 18 InvStG): the amount by which a fund's distributions in a calendar year fall short of the base return. It mainly affects accumulating ETFs that distribute little or nothing. BubbleTax calculates it from your holdings and distributions.
- Partial exemption (Teilfreistellung)
- A fixed share of fund income stays tax-free, depending on the fund type (§ 20 InvStG): 30 percent for equity funds, 15 percent for mixed funds, 60 percent for real estate funds, 80 percent for foreign real estate funds. It applies to distributions, the Vorabpauschale and gains from selling the units.
- InvStG
- The German Investment Tax Act governs how income from investment funds and ETFs is taxed at investor level: distributions, Vorabpauschale and disposal gains (§ 16 InvStG), with the Vorabpauschale (§ 18 InvStG) and partial exemption (§ 20 InvStG). These values belong in Anlage KAP-INV.
- Spin-off
- A corporate action: a company splits off a part and books shares of the new company into your account. For tax purposes it has to be determined whether the new shares replace the old ones and how the acquisition cost is allocated (§ 20 Abs. 4a EStG). BubbleTax detects spin-offs from the Flex Query section Corporate Actions.
- Anlage KAP
- The income tax return form for capital income: dividends, interest, gains and losses from shares and derivatives, creditable withholding tax. The report names the line for every value.
- Anlage KAP-INV
- The form for investment income without German withholding at source, as with IBKR: distributions, Vorabpauschale and gains from selling fund units (§ 16 InvStG).
- Anlage SO
- The form for other income. Relevant for investors in the case of private sales transactions under § 23 EStG; the report shows such values separately from capital income.
See for yourself before you pay.
Upload your ProRealTime Flex Query XML and get your full tax report.