Key takeaways
- Your broker keeps two loss pots: one for stocks only and a general one for everything else.
- You may offset losses from selling individual stocks only against gains from stock sales - not against dividends or ETF gains.
- The broker automatically carries unused losses forward into the next year. Across brokers you need a loss certificate (Verlustbescheinigung).
What are loss offset pots?
You only pay tax on your actual net gain. To make that work, your broker offsets a year's gains and losses against each other and collects losses not yet used in so-called loss offset pots (Verlustverrechnungstöpfe). Only the positive remainder is taxed - and only after the saver's allowance (Sparerpauschbetrag) has been deducted.
The catch: not every loss can be offset against every gain.
The two most important pots
Stock loss pot (Aktienverlusttopf)
Only losses from selling individual stocks end up here. You may offset these losses only against gains from selling stocks - a special statutory rule that exists in this form only for stocks. In particular, they cannot be offset against:
- dividends - not even dividends from the same stock,
- gains from ETFs, funds, bonds or certificates.
General loss pot (allgemeiner Verlusttopf)
All other losses collect here, for example from ETFs, funds, bonds or certificates. They are much more flexible: you can offset them against all positive capital income - including dividends, interest and gains on stocks.
| Loss pot | Where does it come from? | Can be offset against |
|---|---|---|
| Stock loss pot | Sale of individual stocks | only gains from stock sales |
| General pot | ETFs, funds, bonds, certificates and more | all positive capital income, including dividends and interest |
Special case: derivatives
For losses from derivative transactions (Termingeschäfte) such as options or futures, there was for a time a separate pot with a cap on the amount that could be offset. This rule was highly contested in law and has since been changed. If this affects you, check the current position or ask your tax advisor.
What happens at the end of the year?
If a loss is left in the pot at the end of the year, it does not expire. Your broker automatically carries it forward into the next year and offsets it against new gains there. This happens by itself as long as you stay with the same broker.
Losses across several brokers: the loss certificate
Each broker keeps its pots for itself only. If you have losses at broker A and gains at broker B, they are not offset against each other on their own. That is what the loss certificate is for:
- You request it from broker A - by 15 December of the year in question.
- Broker A certifies your losses and empties its pot in return.
- You declare the losses in your tax return (Anlage KAP) and offset them there against the gains at broker B.
If you do not request a certificate, the loss stays with broker A and is automatically carried forward there into the following year. Both are allowed - decide based on whether you want to offset across brokers in the same year.
How it interacts with the saver's allowance
The order is fixed: first the broker offsets losses against gains, then the saver's allowance is applied to the positive remainder through your exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag). Only what is left after that is taxed.
Loss offsetting in Talantor
Talantor does not replicate the tax pots themselves - that is your broker's job. What Talantor gives you: in the tax overview you see your realised gains and losses as well as your dividends per year, calculated from your real activities (sales by default using the FIFO method). That way you can see early on where you are in the red - a good basis for thinking about a sale or a loss certificate before the end of the year.
How much tax you pay on ETFs in the first place also depends on the partial exemption.
Not tax advice
This article explains the basics as they currently stand. Tax rules can change and depend on your personal situation. For binding advice, contact a tax advisor.