Partner law firm ZE Tax & Legal
Anyone who speaks for you at the tax office needs to be authorised to do so.
Zebra Embassy is a commercial management consultancy and does not have this authorisation. Our partner law firm ZE Tax & Legal does, and on request handles the application with the tax office and representation in a tax audit. Two separate companies, one clear line between them.
At a glance
- 01
Zebra Embassy GmbH and ZE Tax & Legal GmbH Berufsausübungsgesellschaft are two separate companies that work closely together. How they are connected is set out below.
- 02
Zebra Embassy prepares the technical side of your project and compiles the documents from it. Zebra Embassy does not act on your behalf as a representative to file applications with the tax office or other authorities.
- 03
You or your tax adviser file the R&D tax credit application with the tax office. ZE Tax & Legal can take work off you or your tax adviser.
- 04
If there is a tax audit, ZE Tax & Legal can support you or your tax adviser and represent you as your authorised representative.
When time matters
From the start to the assessment of the R&D tax credit, it usually takes a good year, and much of that time sits with the BSFZ and the tax office.
So that you can apply for the R&D tax credit as quickly as possible, even if your tax adviser is short on capacity, ZE Tax & Legal can file the application with the tax office for you.
What ZE Tax & Legal handles at the tax office
Three tasks that require authorisation.
ZE Tax & Legal only acts if you instruct the firm. You decide which tasks it takes on: individual ones, all or none.
01
Once the BSFZ certificate is in, the application for the R&D tax credit goes to your tax office. On request, ZE Tax & Legal files it for your company.
Basis: § 5 FZulG
02
The tax office sets the amount of the R&D tax credit. The firm reviews the notice, answers the tax office’s queries and files an objection for you if one becomes necessary.
03
If the tax office later audits the R&D tax credit, ZE Tax & Legal represents your company as its authorised representative.
Basis: § 80 AO
Visit the ZE Tax & Legal website
Why two companies
Two stages, two kinds of question.
The R&D tax credit runs in two stages. In the first, the certification body (BSFZ) checks whether your project counts as research and development. Zebra Embassy prepares this stage with you.
The second stage runs at your tax office, from the application through the assessment to a possible tax audit. Advising or representing a company here is assistance in tax matters. Only authorised professionals such as tax advisers and lawyers may do this (Sections 2 and 3 StBerG).
As a commercial management consultancy, Zebra Embassy may not do this. That is why ZE Tax & Legal exists, an independent law firm with its own admission, its own mandates and its own liability.
How the whole process runs, from the first conversation to the assessment by the tax office, is explained on our R&D tax credits page.
How R&D tax credits work
Who does what
One project, two engagements.
If you work with both, you instruct each company separately. At the dashed line, responsibility, professional rules and liability change hands.
Zebra Embassy GmbH
Commercial management consultancy. Not authorised to assist in tax matters or to provide legal advice; Zebra Embassy does not provide any services reserved for lawyers or tax advisers under the StBerG or RDG.
01
Initial review: which of your projects could qualify for the R&D tax credit, and to what extent.
02
Project documentation and preparing the BSFZ application: the technical case for the certificate.
→
Handover: we compile project reports, time records and the data from your project, and hand them to the party that files the application with the tax office.
Stage 1: Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ)
ZE Tax & Legal GmbH Berufsausübungsgesellschaft
Law firm, admitted by the Rechtsanwaltskammer Berlin (Berlin Bar) as a professional practice company under § 59f BRAO. Authorised to assist in tax matters under § 3 StBerG.
01
Application to the tax office
02
Assessment, queries, objection
03
Representation in a tax audit
Stage 2: Tax office (Finanzamt)
You file the application with the tax office yourself, through your tax adviser or through our partner law firm ZE Tax & Legal. If the tax office comes back with questions later or a tax audit follows, we compile the documents from your project for you, and representation is handled by your tax adviser or the law firm. Zebra Embassy does not file applications with the tax office, signs nothing and does not act as an authorised representative.
Ground rules
A cooperation with clear rules.
The following applies to how Zebra Embassy and ZE Tax & Legal work together:
ZE Tax & Legal and Zebra Embassy are legally independent and connected through their shareholders. The founders of Zebra Embassy hold shares in the law firm, and Stefan Höhn, lawyer (Rechtsanwalt), is a co-founder of Zebra Embassy.
The law firm only acts if a company instructs it directly. Zebra Embassy and ZE Tax & Legal invoice separately. The law firm agrees its fees independently and in writing before it starts work.
ZE Tax & Legal is bound by professional secrecy. This also applies to its shareholders insofar as they work for the firm (§ 43a (2), §§ 59d, 59e BRAO).
ZE Tax & Legal is professionally bound to advise independently, and its shareholders must preserve that independence (§ 43a (1), §§ 59d, 59e BRAO). If a position does not hold in the firm’s view, the client hears it from the firm, in every case. If this gives rise to liability for Zebra Embassy, ZE Tax & Legal will point that out as well.
Working with Zebra Embassy does not oblige a company to instruct ZE Tax & Legal. The company can also file the application with the tax office itself or through its tax adviser. Zebra Embassy then hands the project documents over to them.
Neither company pays the other anything for a referral.
Who is behind it
Stefan Höhn
Co-founder of Zebra Embassy, lawyer and managing director of ZE Tax & Legal
Stefan is an attorney-at-law who combines legal expertise with hands-on business experience. Before co-founding Zebra Embassy, he held commercial leadership roles in the consumer goods sector. After five years of in-depth advice on special issues around the R&D tax credit as part of Zebra Embassy’s advisory work, he is now managing director of our partner law firm ZE Tax & Legal.
“Zebra Embassy prepares the project on the technical side. With ZE Tax & Legal, you can instruct a highly specialised law firm for the R&D tax credit that enforces your claims with the tax office on the basis of this groundwork.”
Stefan Höhn
Questions
Frequently asked questions about our partner law firm
Who files the application with the tax office?
You or your tax adviser. ZE Tax & Legal can take work off you or your tax adviser and file the application as an authorised law firm. Zebra Embassy does not file applications with the tax office.
Who speaks for you if the tax office audits?
Who is liable for what?
Does the split make it more expensive?
I have a tax adviser. What changes for them?
Want to hand over the application to the tax office, or in the middle of a tax audit?
Visit the ZE Tax & Legal website
ZE Tax & Legal GmbH Berufsausübungsgesellschaft, admitted under § 59f BRAO by the Rechtsanwaltskammer Berlin. Registered office Berlin, Local Court of Charlottenburg, HRB 290668 B. Managing director: Rechtsanwalt Stefan Höhn. Cooperation partner of Zebra Embassy GmbH. Professional rules and professional indemnity insurance: ze.legal/impressum
This page describes how Zebra Embassy GmbH and ZE Tax & Legal GmbH Berufsausübungsgesellschaft work together. It is general information, not legal or tax advice, and does not create a mandate.