The world of cleaning aids, as it looks now, would have been considered pretty perverse a few years ago: It is not that unattractive for customers to organize everything legally.
Finally, the fee can be deducted from the tax.
In fact, many people in the upper middle class would like to employ a cleaning assistant and register legally - but cleaning aids that can actually be registered are hard to find.
One hears the same complaints from Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin: “If I place an ad, all callers assume that they are working illegally.
And if I don't want to go along with that, the interest disappears very quickly. "
Patrick Bernau
Responsible editor for economics and "Money & More" of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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Those who say that don't want to be in the newspaper. After all, some give up after months of unsuccessful searches and still employ someone illegally. There are no official statistics on supply and demand anyway. The Austrian shadow economy expert Friedrich Schneider estimates that in Germany this year six billion euros for household help will be paid by the tax. 88 percent of domestic helpers work unregistered, according to the Institute of German Economy last autumn - a little less than 15 years ago, but still far too many. Millions of households are still being cleansed by undeclared work. “The situation has changed in recent years,” says IW economist Dominik Enste. “In the meantime, households are more willing to employ cleaning workers legally.But there are only a few interested parties. ”Enste himself has also looked in vain, he has no one at the moment. The family cleans themselves, a possible job is lost.
The state makes it difficult for the low-skilled
This is a problem, and not just for higher-income academics.
On the one hand, it clearly shows how difficult the state makes it for low-skilled people to gain a foothold in the labor market.
On the other hand, the state treasury, ultimately all citizens, suffers from this.
Taxes and social security contributions are eliminated, and in the worst case, the cleaning aids later have no pension entitlements.
The state actually meant it well when it set up the mini-job center in 2003. Private individuals should be able to register their domestic help very easily, and the rule was added almost at the same time: the costs can be reported to the tax office, one fifth of the wages is deducted directly from income tax. That should be lucrative and unbureaucratic. Almost 20 years later, however, the situation is no longer that simple. 450 Euro jobs have now been restricted.
If you get a little lost in the rules, you will quickly receive mail from the mini-job center and have little time to put everything back in order: In case of doubt, the domestic help must be registered with the health insurance company, the tax office will then calculate the wage tax and have paid off - hardly anyone accepts this effort for a job that is usually not a real part-time position, but only comprises a few hours a week. The mini-job center has already prevented many a legal employment in this way.