New requirements on companies claiming tax benefits for energy and electricity tax:
Many businesses take advantage of energy and electricity tax benefits such as tax relief for manufacturing companies (Section 9b German Electricity Tax Act). As already reported in the last newsletter, new statement deadlines, which are to be implemented by June 30th, 2017, apply here.
The basis for this is the Energy and Electricity Tax Transparency Act (EnSTransV) which has been in force since July 1st, 2016. It implements the information, publication and transparency requirements of EU state aid law. This means that information on tax benefits from the energy and electricity tax law must published in the member states. This includes the name of the recipient (company) on a publicly accessible internet page given that the benefits exceed 500,000 euros in energy and electricity tax benefits in the calendar year.
You can apply for an exemption from the duty of disclosure and declaration by using the new 1463 from the customs administration. An exemption will be granted provided that the amount of tax benefit of the respective “advantage instance” does not exceed an amount of 150,000 euros per calendar year in the past three calendar years. Application for an exemption must be received by the main customs office by June 30th, 2017. Upon receipt by the main customs office it is regarded as provisionally approved. It is considered to be finally approved given that the customs office responsible does not oppose or request any further documents within three months of receipt of the application.
If there is no application for an exemption or it is not approved, then you must use Forms 1461 or 1462 to disclose or declare the tax benefits made use of and hand them in at the main customs office. This also applies if the tax benefit is less than 500,000 euros per year or was less than that in the last three years.
It is therefore now necessary for companies to check whether they are subject to the reporting obligation and whether an exemption from the duty of declaration is possible. Arqum will be happy to support you during the relevance check or processing of the necessary forms.
