EU Economics Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has submitted four concrete proposals to the federal government as to how Germany can prevent gas customers from being additionally burdened by the VAT on the gas levy.
In his reply to the letter from Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) at the end of last week, Gentiloni ruled out an exception to the levying of VAT, as well as a revision of the EU VAT Directive itself. The letter of August 17 is available to the FAZ .
Henrik Kafsack
Business correspondent in Brussels.
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First, Gentiloni proposes returning the additional VAT revenue directly to households.
The federal government can specifically support "particularly vulnerable" households and thus compensate for the consequences of the gas levy itself.
Secondly, the federal government could return the additional revenue to the energy companies in the form of transfers outside the VAT system in order to reduce the burden on end customers.
Thirdly, she could generally lower the VAT on gas to the minimum rate of 5 percent.
Such a time-limited reduction can be designed in a targeted manner so that an additional burden on gas customers is avoided.
After all, the gas levy can simply be reduced so much that its amount, including VAT of 19 percent, corresponds to the actually desired amount.
"I am convinced that one of these proposals can help to solve this delicate problem," writes Gentiloni in conclusion.
The Commission stands ready for further talks with the Ministry of Finance.