shortened residual debt discharge for all – from 01.10.2020:

Aufgrund der aktuellen Korona-Krise hat die Bundesregierung bereits im Sommer 2020 beschlossen, dass ab 1. Oktober die Restschuldbefreiung aller Schuldnerinnen und Schuldner auf 3 Jahre reduziert wird. This means for you: All debtors who have filed for insolvency after 1 October 2020 will be released from their debts after 3 years, regardless of whether 35% of insolvency claims have been repaid.

Obligation to file for insolvency in the Corona crisis:

In principle, the representative of a legal entity (e.g.: AG or GmbH) is obliged to file for insolvency.
Under the Act on the Temporary Suspension of the Obligation to File for Insolvency and on the Limitation of Organ Liability in the Event of Insolvency Caused by the COVID 19 Pandemic (COVInsAG), the obligation to file for insolvency was suspended retroactively as of 1 March 2020 until 30 September 2020. Now a law has come into force which extends the suspension of insolvency until 31.12.2020.
The suspension of the obligation to file an application presupposes that the insolvency maturity is based on the effects of the Corona crisis.
However, the extended suspension until 31.12.2020 only applies to companies that are over-indebted due to the pandemic. This means that insolvent companies will again be obliged to file for insolvency from 1.10.2020. The reason for this is as follows: In the case of over-indebted companies, there is still the possibility of averting insolvency, whereas insolvent companies can no longer pay their debts and insolvency can no longer be averted permanently.
The purpose of suspensions is to avoid that companies have to file for bankruptcy simply because the state aid due cannot be paid in time.