Die Bemessungsgrundlage des § 7 Abs. 1 Satz 5 EStG.

According to § 7 para. 1 sentence 5 of the Income Tax Act (EStG), the assessment basis for depreciation is generally to be reduced by previous depreciations if the asset was used to generate surplus income before its contribution to the business assets. This is intended to prevent the taxpayer from making double depreciations. The study discusses the regulation and demonstrates that there are still options for structuring that allow the taxpayer to achieve multiple considerations of their expenses. Based on the constitutional principles for the design of depreciation, the work develops a proposal for a solution that aims to enable a systematic taxation. As a result, the utilization of unanticipated tax advantages through the taxation of the contribution can be significantly restricted. However, a reform of the dualistic income determination is necessary to exclude all tax arrangements.