The Tax Court of Cologne has ordered a minority shareholder to pay income and sales tax (case no. 13 K 3023/13). The shareholder was making a business out of systematically raising legal challenges and then being persuaded to withdraw his claims in return for a lavish settlement. The man cashed up to five-figure sums through his attorneys in return for dropping his objection to necessary capital increases, for example. As his holdings were in each case small (between € 10 – 500), the tax court assumed that the aim of the challenges was not the assertion of a claim for compensation. What the man in fact wanted was just one thing: to capitalize as a shareholder from his power to adopt an obstructionist position. The Tax Court of Cologne interpreted this as a long-term activity. This serves to underline the system that lies behind it. After all, the accused shareholder had been acting in exactly this manner for years, not only in his own name but also in that of a limited liability compa...