The problem is not only a lack of IT staff, but also a lack of interfaces for data transfer from one authority to another.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin In recent months, politicians have considered a large number of tax measures to counteract the energy crisis. Citizens should receive additional money to compensate for the additional burden of increased gas prices. The EU also decided to additionally tax energy companies that bring in higher profits due to the high prices.
But while politicians keep an eye on the interests of citizens and companies, one group is hardly taken into account in all these decisions: their own tax officials. Because they have to implement the ideas with their work.
The German Tax Union (DSTG), which represents the staff of the financial administration, is now sounding the alarm in view of the major challenges posed by the newly put together packages. Florian Koebler, Chairman of the DSTG, warns that the financial authorities are already “land under”. In order to cope with the tax requirements of politics, IT systems would have to be completely reprogrammed. However, Köbler fears that there is a lack of staff or that they will have to be drawn from elsewhere.
“We are an absolute shortage administration,” says Köbler. His accusation: Politicians do not consider the high compliance costs for new laws on the part of the tax authorities. In addition, there is a lack of support in the form of new staff to meet the increased requirements.
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Christoph Trautvetter, speaker at the Tax Justice Network, also shares these concerns. He also sees the responsibility in politics: “Overall, there is a lack of staff in all areas of the financial administration and the current developments and previous changes to the traffic light are causing more pressure,” says Trautvetter. However, there is no relief elsewhere.
Complicated calculations
Example gas price brake: Anyone who earns more than 66,915 euros a year will have to pay tax on the upcoming one-off state payment. The SPD deputy faction leader Achim Post called the decision to the Reuters news agency a “clear line of justice”. But what a line of justice means for politicians means a great deal of additional organizational effort for the tax administration.
Citizens should receive additional money to compensate for the additional burden of increased gas prices.
(Photo: dpa)
In order to implement the will of the politicians, the tax authorities must first make an additional calculation to find out how high the taxable income would be without the gas price premium. Is it above or below the “fairness line” of 66,915 euros?
If it is higher, a second calculation must be made to determine the taxable income including the gas price premium. A process that EDP programmers have to convey for the electronic tax return. Programmers who are missing elsewhere for the digitization processes.
>> Read here How the legal republic is slowing down digitization
The head of the Regulatory Control Council, Lutz Goebel, warned against the “Welt am Sonntag” that the relief packages would overload the administration. He criticized the fact that the digitization of the administration had “messed up” and predicted that errors could occur in the financial administration due to the high burden.
Dependent on the good will of the companies
The problem is not only a lack of IT staff, but also a lack of interfaces for data transfer from one authority to another.
Example EU energy crisis contribution: The additional levy for energy companies that benefit from the high prices is to be levied by the Federal Central Tax Office. The companies have to calculate their contribution themselves and report it there.
The Federal Central Office is dependent on the good will of the companies, because it cannot check the data, although they are actually available to the authorities, but stored at the local tax offices – there is no interface to the federal government so far.
For Misbah Khan, the Greens’ rapporteur on e-government, structures like this are a problem. She criticizes: “We finally have to think about the digitization of our administration from the end.” In her opinion, this also includes thinking about the processes in the administrations themselves. “A beautiful front end is useless if the back end has not been digitized properly.”
DSTG boss Köbler warns that the capacities that are now tied up by the new relief packages in the financial administration could be missing elsewhere. “I’m concerned that the process will be at the expense of tax justice,” says Köbler. Tax audits and the fight against tax evasion and slush funds would ultimately suffer.
>> Read here: How a 60-year-old idea is now supposed to digitize the administration
Köbler already compares the fight against tax crime with a chase, “like when you’re chasing a Ferrari on a bicycle”. Now the tax officer on the bike has to take a detour when pursuing the tax criminals – and calculate the taxation of the gas price premiums for higher earners.
More: Read, suffer, punch – bureaucratic madness in Germany