Gas surcharge: up to 300 euros - VAT deduction could create enormous relief

Created: 08/05/2022, 15:42

By: Patricia Huber

The gas levy is an additional financial burden for consumers.

However, a VAT exemption could provide some relief.

Berlin – The gas surcharge will come in the fall.

Consumers will then have to dig even deeper into their pockets despite the already higher gas prices.

Because depending on the size of the household and the amount, the levy costs up to 2000 euros extra.

In view of this additional financial burden, social organizations have already sounded the alarm.

Gas surcharge: up to 300 euros – that’s what VAT really counts for

The government is therefore currently discussing whether the value added tax on the gas surcharge could be suspended.

This would reduce the costs for consumers: According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, a reduction or complete suspension of VAT on the gas surcharge could result in a price difference of up to 200 euros.

The calculations assume a range for the surcharge of 1.5 to five cents per kilowatt hour, which Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had named.

If the value-added tax on the levy were dropped, the single household with a levy of five cents per kilowatt hour would be 250 instead of 298 euros per year.

The model family with a child and 150 square meters of living space would have to pay EUR 1,000 instead of EUR 1,190, Check24 calculates.

For the large model family with a consumption of 35,000 kilowatt hours per year, it would even be 1750 instead of 2083 euros - a saving of 333 euros.

Gas levy: Habeck is for a VAT exemption – Lindner hesitates

On Thursday evening, the federal cabinet agreed on a gas levy that will lead to price increases for gas customers from autumn.

The federal government wants to prevent importers from collapsing as a result of severely curtailed Russian gas supplies.

The surcharge should take effect from the beginning of October and help importers who have to buy gas at significantly higher prices but, under contractual rules, cannot bill their customers for these additional costs.

Habeck has asked Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to look for ways to exempt the levy from VAT.

Lindner emphasized that he did not want to tax the levy, but was bound by European law.

From circles in the Ministry of Finance, it was said that the Ministry of Climate Protection and Economic Affairs designed the surcharge in such a way that, according to European law, VAT should actually be incurred.