The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

One-off gas payment: Union criticises tax law for high earners as "sloppy"

2023-05-30T11:32:20.908Z

Highlights: High earners are to pay tax on the December advance payment for gas and district heating taken over by the state. The German government has promised to clarify the outstanding issues. The opposition is happy to pick up on the ambiguities. "I am stunned at how sloppy tax laws are made by the traffic light coalition," CDU finance politician Fritz Güntzler told the F.A.Z. In any case, he will sue, as taxation lacks a legal basis, he said.



High earners are to pay tax on the December advance payment for gas and district heating taken over by the state. But that doesn't seem to be so easy.

Berlin – In view of rising energy prices, which are also due to the Ukraine war, the German government has initiated relief for citizens. The first was the energy price lump sum of 300 euros, which was paid to employees from September last year. Then the state also took over the December advance payment for gas and district heating. Finally, the gas price brake was added.

One-off gas payment: Taxation of aid unclear

However, employees who pay the solidarity surcharge will have to pay tax on the December advance payment in the 2023 assessment period. This is intended to ensure a socially just balance. But it still seems unclear how this is supposed to work.

The German government is accused of having © worked sloppily on the law for the one-off gas payment in December IMAGO/Christian Ohde

Because many details are still open. What does it look like if several taxpayers live in one household and they jointly benefit from the advance payment assumed? It is also difficult for the tax authorities to find out who should pay tax on the deduction. Without a tax number and dates of birth, it is not possible to determine whether a recipient of gas or district heating pays the solidarity surcharge.

It is also unclear that the advance payment is clearly assigned to taxable income. Thus, it is doubtful whether the aid belongs to taxable income, for which income tax must be paid. Although the German government has promised to clarify the outstanding issues, nothing has happened so far.

One-off gas payment: Recipients should sue against tax assessments

The opposition is happy to pick up on the ambiguities. "I am stunned at how sloppy tax laws are made by the traffic light coalition," CDU finance politician Fritz Güntzler told the F.A.Z. He could only recommend everyone to take action against the tax assessments. In any case, he will sue, as taxation lacks a legal basis.

North Rhine-Westphalian Finance Minister Marcus Optendrenk (CDU) echoes the same sentiment: "It is very annoying that the federal government has not yet provided this much-needed clarity in the regulations on the taxation of December aid." His Hessian colleague Michael Boddenberg (CDU) thinks that the regulations on taxation should be abolished and that all measures to tax price brakes should be abandoned.

One-off gas payment: Tax consultant thinks taxation is nonsense

But tax consultants also have their problems with the topic. "It is a scandal that the federal government has not yet clarified the procedural issues," says association president Torsten Lüth of the F.A.Z. It is clear that the whole thing will become a bureaucratic monster if the relief amount is taxed precisely at the economic beneficiary. In Lüth's view, the justice intended by the federal government will be lost in the event of a coarser approach. "That's why I think taxation is nonsense. It should be abolished as a matter of urgency," said Lüth.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-05-30

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.