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Almost two months after Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced the third relief package, point 10 of the resolution has been implemented. "The federal government is prepared to exempt an amount of up to 3,000 euros from tax and social security contributions in the event of additional payments from companies to their employees," it says.
The necessary amendment to the Income Tax Act has now been announced in the Federal Law Gazette. Number 11c, added to paragraph 3, now states that every employer can pay up to 3000 euros tax-free "in the period from October 26, 2022 to December 31, 2024" "to mitigate the increased consumer prices" in addition to the wages that are already owed.
There are therefore two conditions for the premium to reach the employee without deducting taxes and social security contributions: First, the money must be paid in addition to the regular wages, i.e. it cannot be offset against them. Secondly, the premium must serve to curb general price increases, it must not replace a bonus payment that is due anyway. The second point will be difficult to verify, similar to the Corona premium from previous years.
The sticking point from the point of view of every employee is that the inflation premium is also a voluntary payment. "It is up to the employer's discretion whether he would like to compensate his employees for the loss in value of their income during this difficult time," said the tax experts of the Bavarian wage tax aid.
No employer has to decide now. He can take his time until the end of 2024 and thus more than two years with the payment. Not only is he flexible in terms of time, but also in terms of height. Any amount up to 3000 euros is possible, and the legislator also allows several partial payments over the two-year period.
Important for all potential payees: The cap on the maximum amount only applies to employers, not employees. "If an employee has several jobs, he may receive the maximum amount of 3000 tax-free from each of his employers," writes the wage tax assistance association.
With the possible special payments, the federal government is pursuing the goal of ensuring that high inflation does not lead to permanently higher salaries and thus to a so-called wage-price spiral. This means a self-reinforcing effect of higher wages, higher demand, higher prices, which in turn lead to calls for higher wages.
In the chemical industry there is already a collective bargaining agreement that includes the inflation premium. Not only are the current pay scales for chemical workers to be increased by 3.25 percent in January 2023 and January 2024, but two one-off payments of EUR 1,500 each are also planned for the two years.
It is still unclear how many companies actually pay out a bonus. The Federal Ministry of Finance offers an approximation: The experts there put the expected tax shortfall due to the inflation premium at around 1.2 billion euros. For this extrapolation, they assumed five million beneficiaries. Given that there are 45 million people in employment in Germany, that would be around one in ten.
"Everything on shares" is the daily stock exchange shot from the WELT business editorial team. Every morning from 7 a.m. with the financial journalists from WELT. For stock market experts and beginners. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and Deezer. Or directly via RSS feed.
