Up to 3000 euros tax-free: Which companies pay their employees the extra money
Created: 09/30/2022, 05:01
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
The inflation premium is intended to relieve employees in Germany in view of the high energy prices.
The first companies have already announced that they will pay their employees a bonus.
Berlin – The prices for food and energy have risen sharply – and employees can afford less and less from their salaries.
The federal government has therefore asked companies to pay their employees an "inflation premium".
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced at the beginning of September when presenting the government's third relief package that the state would "make this possible in any case" by not levying any taxes or duties on payments of up to 3,000 euros.
He expressed the hope that "this will happen across the board millions of times all over Germany".
Inflation premium as the successor to the Corona premium
The inflation premium follows the example of the Corona premium: During the Corona pandemic, special payments from employers of up to 1,500 euros remained tax and social security-free.
The regulation ran until the end of March 2022. The bonus is paid in addition to the salary.
The idea of a tax-free one-off payment to compensate for inflation was discussed with employer and employee representatives at the beginning of July.
Trade union representatives and economists had rejected them.
SPD leader Saskia Esken emphasized when presenting the relief package that "we want wages to rise overall".
According to the
Handelsblatt
, the cabinet will decide on the measure on Wednesday (September 28), citing government circles.
Only then will the exact text of the law become known.
Car rental company Sixt pays employees 1700 euros inflation bonus
The first companies in Germany have already announced that they want to pay their employees an inflation premium, others are still considering it.
According to a survey by the
Handelsblatt
, more than half of the 40 Dax companies and many large family companies such as the media group Bertelsmann are currently checking whether they will make such a special payment.
Quite a few of the companies surveyed, such as Allianz, want to wait for a finished legal text before committing to concrete statements.
The car rental company Sixt, on the other hand, has already decided to pay out: "We pay every employee worldwide a special bonus of 1,700 euros to compensate for inflation until the end of the year," said co-CEO Alexander Sixt of the
Handelsblatt
.
The Rossmann drugstore chain also wants to pay its employees a bonus – but has not yet announced any specific figures.
According to the business newspaper, the family business EBM Papst, a fan manufacturer, is planning a voluntary one-time payment of 500 euros for all 6,000 employees in Germany.
Inflation premium: Employer President Dulger warns against expectations that are too high
Some large companies, on the other hand, rejected the bonus – such as the automotive supplier Continental.
According to the
Handelsblatt
, he rules out an inflation premium and justifies this with the “persistently turbulent market environment”.
Telekom is also not planning a bonus, but refers to special payments of 500 euros each for lower and middle tariff groups in this year's collective bargaining agreement.
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Employer President Rainer Dulger has warned against too high expectations of the possibility of tax and duty-free one-off payments provided for in the next federal government relief package.
"Many companies would certainly allow their employees a one-off payment, no matter what the amount, but they can't because the massive increase in energy costs is taking their breath away," Dulger told the editorial network Germany.
(lma/AFP/dpa)
