Erte ID.Modelle unterstützen bidirektionales Laden. Foto: Volkswagen AG
Operators of charging stations for electric cars and electricity storage systems are to be relieved of bureaucracy and tax obligations. This is provided for in a draft bill from the German government (20/12351). Among other things, the traffic light government wants to clearly regulate that users of electric vehicles do not become suppliers under tax law when charging bidirectionally and therefore do not have to pay taxes. Double taxation is also to be “comprehensively avoided” for electricity storage systems, according to the draft.
In its statement on the draft law, the National Regulatory Control Council estimates that the law will save the economy 15.4 million euros per year as a result of the elimination of bureaucratic costs. For example, in future, the relevant supplier and tax debtor will be the person who operates a charging station. “This will eliminate the need for complicated case-by-case reviews of complex contractual business models “within the charging station”, writes the committee.
For bidirectional charging, i.e. the charging process in both directions, for example from the domestic photovoltaic system to the electric vehicle and from the electric vehicle to domestic electric appliances, “clear guidelines would be created”, the Council for the Control of Standards writes further and explains: “These prevent users of electric vehicles from becoming suppliers and tax debtors.” The draft legislation would “redefine electricity storage systems in a way that is open to all technologies” and avoid multiple taxation for electricity fed into and taken out of the grid.
The Federal Council considers the reduction in electricity tax on January 1, 2024 to be insufficient, as it writes in its statement. It continues: “The Federal Council is therefore calling for the electricity tax for all companies, not just those in the manufacturing sector, to be reduced to the minimum level required by European law. This is the only way that companies in the service and trade sectors and the entire skilled trades sector will also receive the necessary cost relief. This reduction should be enshrined in law for an indefinite period in order to give companies planning security. A reduction in electricity tax to the minimum level required by European law also appears to be necessary for private households.”
The Chamber of the Federal States also criticizes the fact that the draft law “completely eliminates biomass as a renewable energy source”: “It is incomprehensible why biomass should not be counted as a renewable energy source under the Electricity Tax Act, but is under the Renewable Energy Sources Act.”
The German government rejects this criticism in its statement: “Due to the proposed adjustments, thousands of operators of electricity generation plants with a rated electrical output of up to two megawatts can continue to claim tax exemptions from January 1, 2025 with little bureaucracy and legal certainty, even if biomass, sewage and landfill gas is used to generate electricity. Each plant of this size can supply thousands of households or a medium-sized company with electricity. Source and further information
