April 11, 2022 | 40,00 EUR | answered by Hannu Wegner
Dear inquirer,
My name is Hannu Wegner, and I am a tax consultant in Rellingen.
I will now address your question by explaining the relevant tax regulations for you.
In your case, you are dealing with options trading, specifically the selling of options, which falls under capital transactions governed by § 20 of the Income Tax Act (EStG). All income and expenses related to these transactions are generally taxable and can be offset against each other.
You have sold two options and received a premium for each. These premiums are taxable income. Later, you close the positions and pay a certain amount for them. These amounts reduce your income.
In your example, you sell a call option and a put option on Volkswagen. The total premiums you receive for these are 110,000 euros. Later, you close the positions for a total of 80,000 euros. The difference between the premiums and the closing costs is your taxable profit.
Therefore, the calculations are as follows:
Call option: 70,000 euros (premium received) - 10,000 euros (closing costs) = 60,000 euros (profit)
Put option: 40,000 euros (premium received) - 70,000 euros (closing costs) = -30,000 euros (loss)
So, the total profit is 60,000 euros - 30,000 euros = 30,000 euros. This amount is generally taxable.
According to § 20 (6) of the EStG, capital losses can only be offset against capital gains. The limit of 20,000 euros applies only to losses from certain types of capital assets, not to options. Therefore, in your case, you can offset the entire loss of 30,000 euros against the profit of 60,000 euros.
The tax burden then results from the capital gains tax of 25%, plus solidarity surcharge (and potentially church tax) on the remaining profit of 30,000 euros.
Please note that this is general information and your individual tax situation may differ.
I hope my answer is clear and helpful to you. If you have further questions or if anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to contact me again. I am here to assist you in answering your questions to the best of my ability.
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Thank you in advance!
Kind regards,
Hannu Wegner, Tax Consultant
