Dhe federal government has decided: for a limited period – namely as long as the gas surcharge applies – the reduced VAT rate of 7 percent will apply to gas. That would then be the case by the end of March 2024. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced this on Thursday. With the step, the gas customers would be relieved overall much more than they would be burdened by the state gas surcharge. The SPD politician said he expects companies to pass on the tax cut one-to-one to consumers. “This is another step towards relief.”
The amount of the gas surcharge of 2.419 cents per kilowatt hour was only announced on Monday. The federal government originally advocated that no VAT be due on this levy. However, she failed with the EU Commission, which referred to the legal situation. Accordingly, it is not intended to be able to waive VAT in the short term.
Complicated legal framework
The legal framework allows for no exceptions, wrote EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni in a letter to Finance Minister Christian Lindner. However, the federal government has the option of reducing the applicable VAT to the EU minimum rate of 5 percent. The traffic light coalition does not choose this step. Instead, she wants to use the reduced tax rate of 7 percent. In Germany, a VAT rate of 19 percent usually applies. However, 7 percent apply to selected goods.
The gas surcharge will apply from October, but it will not appear immediately on the bills, but with a little delay, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. For reasons of consumer protection, there are notice periods in the Energy Industry Act of four to six weeks that must be observed. Therefore, the surcharge will probably appear on the bills for the first time in November/December.
The surcharge is intended to help importers who are suffering from the reduction in gas supply volumes from Russia. Gas importers have delivery obligations to their customers, especially to municipal utilities. The importers can only meet these delivery obligations by replacing the lost quantities from Russia by purchasing much more expensive quantities on the short-term market. So far, these additional costs cannot be passed on. The result: significant losses have been incurred by importers. That is why the federal government has agreed on a rescue package worth billions with the utility Uniper – and as part of this also the gas surcharge. This comes in addition to market-related price increases, which gradually reach customers.
About half of all households in the Federal Republic heat with gas. According to example calculations, the surcharge for a one-person household with an annual consumption of 5000 kilowatt hours means annual additional costs of around 121 euros, even without VAT. For a family household with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, the additional costs without VAT are around 484 euros per year.
