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Minister of Finance Lindner:
Photo: Chris Emil Janssen / IMAGO
In view of protests against a possible taxation of the planned gas surcharge, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is promising relief.
"According to the current legal situation, the gas levy is part of the assessment basis for calculating sales tax," a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) told SPIEGEL.
"The BMF is examining ways to ensure that gas customers do not incur any additional burdens in this context."
Companies can use the surcharge to pass on increased gas procurement costs to customers from October at the latest.
The fee designed by Robert Habeck (Greens) in the Federal Ministry of Economics should amount to 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour, which would mean additional costs of several hundred euros a year for consumers.
These costs could also increase if VAT is also levied on the surcharge.
The Union had criticized that no VAT should be levied on the levy, and the AfD demanded its complete deletion.
There are also critical voices from the FDP.
The association of municipal companies had described a tax exemption for the levy as difficult, but called for an alternative to reducing the value added tax for electricity, gas and heating supplies from 19 to 7 percent.
The Ministry of Finance has not yet announced how specifically the relief could be designed.
Instead, Lindner's house subtly refers to the responsibility of cabinet colleague Habeck.
"Unfortunately, the design of the levy by the green-led ministry triggers value added tax under European law," according to ministry circles.
“The Ministry of Finance has therefore long been examining all options for exempting the levy from VAT.”
