Posted on 10/03/2017 2:10:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
According to a court judgement in North Rhine-Westphalia published on Monday, bread rolls and coffee aren’t considered a complete breakfast and therefore not subject to taxation. The ruling, which was made by a tax court in the city of Münster, stated that breakfast does not consist of just bread rolls and hot drinks, it is also accompanied by cold cuts, cheese or spreads, German media reported.
Due to the lack of spreads and other types of toppings to accompany the bread rolls, the company in question was not serving a complete breakfast, the tax court found.
After a software company with about 80 employees had been providing in their canteen free hot drinks such as coffee and plain bread rolls for staff, customers and guests each day, the tax office saw this as a "free provision of a meal to the employee in the form of a breakfast."
Taking into account the increase of prices in the past several years, the tax office demanded the company fork out an additional tax payment of €1.50 to €1.57 per employee per day, backdated to cover a period from from December 2008 to December 2011.
But judges in the tax court in Münster have now rejected this, reports Spiegel Online.
You never thought you'd see a Toll-Free Number do all this.
ot exceeded in the case, arguing that the dispute was a matter of the food being served.
The state government in Münster have allowed for the federal tax court to appeal.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
“March like this” this week.
They’re right.
I prefer a hot roll in bed with some honey.
I see what you did there.
What ? No jam and pasties ?
So the employer was supposed to pay tax on food provided free-of-charge to the employees. Perhaps to replace VAT revenue lost when the employees didn't eat breakfast out (taxed) or at home (taxed when the ingredients were purchased)?
But wait! Didn't the employer pay tax when it bought the ingredients? Or are food products not taxable when there's a corporate purchaser?
Pasties? Certainly not.
Not on either of us.
Bread and coffee isn’t breakfast? Don’t tell the French . . .
Jeez the case is six years old and the govt may appeal this ruling.
The bread will be moldy by then.
-PJ
War with France.
Is this really the biggest issue Germany has to face right now? Das Fruhstuck?
I always suspected that a “continental breakfast” is not really breakfast.
Given that Germany needs every dime ... pfennig? Euro-cent ... to pay its pensioners and long-term unemployed, this kind of is a big issue. If every employer gives its employees tax-free buns and coffee, thousands could die.
Not taxation without breakfastication!
I always suspected Europe wasn’t really a continent.
Tha’s right! Coffee first!
Europe is West Asia
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