Contributions by a limited partner which are entered on the partnership’s capital reserve account represent a gift to the other partners. Consequently, no acquisition of the partnership itself is at hand (see also Federal Finance Court September 14, 1994 (II R 95/92); Federal Finance Court July 15, 1998 (II R 82/96)) even if from a corporate law perspective the partnership ought to be the acquirer.
From a Gift Tax perspective an independent examination occurs who as acquirer was enriched by the gift inter vivos. It is not of relevance that the partners can only uniformly dispose of the partnership’s assets.
Note
In contrast to the decision of the Munster Finance Court, contributions by a limited partner which are entered on the his individual capital reserve account do not represent a gift to the other partners.
Contributions to a corporation are considered to be a gift if, as part of an overall assessment, no adequate compensation is granted (§ 7 para. 8 Inheritance and Gift Tax Act).
For more details regarding contributions to partnerships and corporations see Koeniger, The German Inheritance and Gift Tax, 2017, p. 66 et seqq.