The Federal Minister of Finance does not want to tax the gas surcharge.
(Photo: IMAGO/photothek)
Berlin Finance Minister Christian Lindner says he is examining all options for exempting the planned gas levy from VAT. “As Federal Minister of Finance, I do not want to tax the gas levy,” said the FDP politician on Friday to the German Press Agency.
It is absurd to burden gas customers even more as a state. However, the federal government is bound by EU law. “I will now exhaust all legal and political options to avert an additional burden,” promised Lindner. New burdens are not necessary, but relief for the broad middle.
From circles in the Ministry of Finance, it was said that the Ministry of Climate Protection and Economic Affairs had designed the surcharge in such a way that, according to European law, VAT should actually be incurred.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) demands that citizens should not be additionally burdened with VAT in the planned gas surcharge. “It would be wrong to charge VAT on the levy,” Habeck told the “Tagesspiegel”.
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“The surcharge is a difficult step, but it is necessary to ensure the gas supply. But it should not be additionally increased by value added tax,” emphasized the Vice Chancellor. “I’m sure that my colleagues in the Ministry of Finance see it that way too.” Legally, including European law, it’s complex. But he hopes that the Federal Ministry of Finance will find a way.
>> Read here: This is how expensive the new gas surcharge will be for consumers
According to calculations by the comparison portal Check24, a deletion of VAT on the levy could amount to almost 200 hundred euros per year for families. Including the applicable VAT of 19 percent, the surcharge for a single household with an annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours would therefore be between 89 and 298 euros, the comparison portal wrote in a statement published on Friday.
The federal government wants to protect importers
The calculations assume a range for the surcharge of 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour, which Minister of Economics Habeck had named. A family with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours would therefore face additional costs of between 357 and 1190 euros. The Verivox portal also came to the same conclusions.
If the value-added tax on the levy were dropped, the single household with a levy of 5 cents per kilowatt hour would be 250 instead of 298 euros per year. The model family would have to pay 1000 euros instead of 1190, Check24 calculates.
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 are currently unable to bill their customers for these additional costs. The amount of the contribution is still being calculated.
More: Gas surcharge will hit consumers from October – Cabinet approves regulation