WH SelfInvest German tax return with BubbleTax
WH SelfInvest and German taxes
WH SelfInvest S.A. has been in business since 1998, is based in Luxembourg and is supervised by the Luxembourg regulator CSSF. German clients are served by a branch in Frankfurt under BaFin supervision with German-speaking phone support; further branches exist in France and Switzerland. The broker targets active traders: futures, CFDs, forex, options, stocks and ETFs, traded through the in-house NanoTrader platform, through Interactive Brokers or through TradingView.
Despite the German branch, WH SelfInvest is not a German credit institution. No German capital gains tax is withheld and no tax certificate under § 45a EStG is issued; the income belongs in your tax return.
Which account BubbleTax processes
WH SelfInvest runs several account types: futures account, CFD-forex account and multi-markets account. BubbleTax processes the accounts held through Interactive Brokers, because only they provide a Flex Query export in XML format. Accounts that run exclusively on NanoTrader without an IBKR connection have no such export; check in the account management whether your account offers a Flex Query before uploading. The setup is described in the guide.
Active traders at WH SelfInvest typically meet two special cases: options and futures as derivatives with writer premiums and closing trades, and CFDs as a separate instrument class. BubbleTax assigns both separately from share transactions and converts every trade at the ECB rate of the trading day.
WH SelfInvest recommends BubbleTax
WH SelfInvest recommends BubbleTax to its German clients. How tax logic and trading fit together is shown in the recording of the webinar with stock3.
How it works
- Export the Flex Query: in the IBKR account management of the WH SelfInvest account, XML format, period equal to the tax year
- Upload: to BubbleTax, the preview of the figures is free
- 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 WH SelfInvest Flex Query XML and get your full tax report.