Status: 11/15/2021 2:22 p.m.
The Wirecard trade taxes filled the coffers of the Munich suburb of Aschheim for a long time. Now this source of money is missing. In addition, the insolvency administrator threatened claims worth millions. What’s next in the village that lost its DAX group?
Aschheim was the prime example of a prosperous community in the suburb of Munich and one of the very few villages with a DAX group. Many companies have settled here. By far the largest of these was the financial services provider Wirecard.
More than a year after the Wirecard bankruptcy, autumn calm has returned to Aschheim. Everyone is waiting for the trial, the church is no longer in the headlines every day. Nothing at the former Wirecard headquarters reminds of the billion-dollar company that ended up bankrupting billions. The notorious logo with the name in lower case and the red dot above the “i” has been removed everywhere. There is a sign on the facade that reads: Office space for rent.
Mixed feelings about Wirecard
Colorful leaves fallen from the trees cover the former Wirecard parking lot and dampen the steps of councilor Sepp Lausch, who visits here regularly. Mixed feelings creep up on him at the place that made Aschheim known nationwide. For a long time, people were proud of the success story that happened here, he reports. Wirecard is always something really big and the people of Aschheim were happy to be there, says the local politician.
The rude awakening follows in the early summer of 2020: accounting scandal and bankruptcy. A good 1,500 jobs are suddenly gone, just like the ominous almost two billion euros that Wirecard wants to have parked somewhere in Asia. When the bankruptcy petition is filed, Lausch and his party friends have the free voters make an estimate of the business tax revenue. Because Thomas Glashauser from the CSU, the First Mayor, does not want to quantify the looming loss of income either in the city council or in public. He relies on tax secrecy. Lausch and the other city councilors want to know more precisely what may be in store for the community.
If the Wirecard profits were lies and deceit, the group would not have had to pay any trade tax. Michael Jaffé, the insolvency administrator at Wirecard AG, knows that too. He is currently in the process of monetizing every remnant of the fintech company – from company investments in Malaysia to the carpet in the former board of directors. Because in the interests of the affected creditors, he is obliged to reclaim tax payments for which there was no basis.
Many services in Aschheim could be financed by income from the Wirecard trade tax – these are now missing from the community.
Image: BR / Mathias Flasskamp
High repayment of business taxes threatens
Not only Sepp Lausch is afraid of this. On the basis of the Wirecard AG’s sales and profits published in the Federal Gazette, the Free Voters were able to make a fairly precise estimate of how high the claims should be: “For the period from 2016 to 2019, we come to a total of 25 to 30 million euros”, says Lausch. That would be no small matter even for the wealthy Aschheim. It would roughly correspond to the total business tax revenue for a year. According to this calculation, Wirecard would have generated a large part of the total trade tax income in Aschheim for years alone.
Large subsidies for daycare centers and associations
As a result of the years of bubbling income, the so-called voluntary services of the municipality of Aschheim are spectacular: There are high subsidies for kindergarten places. Citizens do not have to pay anything for it. Aschheim also has a secondary school. A high school is under construction. Planned costs: 120 million euros. There is also an excellent range of leisure activities: the community has nine outdoor tennis courts and an indoor tennis center with additional spaces for the winter. There are several well-maintained soccer fields that are used by two local clubs, as well as an athletics stadium and a shooting range. A school swimming pool is also planned. Not bad for a community of 9,900.
Mayor Glashauser from the CSU believes that it will stay that way. Although he does not give interviews, he leaves his employees on BR request notify in writing that the city has sufficient financial reserves and that no cuts in voluntary benefits are planned.
The federal government partially offset business tax losses in 2020
However, the 2020 budget result shows that Aschheim has received seven million euros from the federal government from the Corona pot for trade tax losses. That helped the community massively. There will be no more compensations for 2021 and the repayments, the Wirecard trade tax, could become due. In view of these prospects, many in the local council – in contrast to the mayor – have serious doubts that everything can just go on as before.
Eugen Stubenvoll also sits on the local council for the free voters and fears that Aschheim may have to cut voluntary benefits. “When the estimated amount of repayments is due, we have to consider whether all the planned investments and the many subsidies, for example for the clubs, are still sustainable,” he says. That would be bitter for the clubs, but also for the citizens – for example with a view to the cost of daycare.
When Wirecard filed for bankruptcy, the new corporate headquarters was under construction. With changed plans it was prevented that it became a building ruin.
Image: BR / Mathias Flasskamp
Clarified the future of the new Wirecard corporate headquarters
But there are also positive developments: at the time of the Wirecard bankruptcy, the new corporate headquarters was already under construction. The building was tailored to the needs and preferences of the board. Andreas Wißmeier from the Rock Capital Group reports on special requests such as curved transitions from carpet to parquet and glass surfaces on the outer facade, which should be repeatedly interrupted by other materials. He recalls that people often secretly shook their heads in the face of such ideas. But it was the customer’s wish that they tried to comply with.
The new location was planned for 2000 employees – in the end not a single one came. Nevertheless, the 42,000 square meter office complex with a huge atrium will not become a ruin. Wißmeier had a few sleepless nights after the Wirecard filing for insolvency: “If the only tenant suddenly disappears into thin air on such a large project, then you have to take a deep breath, but we have planned everything again and are now replacing one large by 15 small tenants, “reports the property manager. A completely new office concept with a healthy, sustainable work environment is to be created here, much less ostentatious than originally planned. New normal – perhaps a symbol for the whole of Aschheim.