Like land tax, trade tax is a real tax. The taxation is based on the Trade Tax Act (GewStG).

The tax object of the trade tax is the trade business. The objective earning power of the business is to be taxed. Trade tax is levied on every business that is operated in Germany. A trade business is understood to be a commercial enterprise within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (§ 15 EStG). The municipality in which a permanent establishment of the commercial enterprise is located is entitled to levy the tax.

The decision on the trade tax liability is made by the tax office responsible for the company. On the basis of the trade tax return to be submitted to the tax office, the tax office sets a trade tax assessment amount, which is notified to the taxpayer by means of a notice. This trade tax assessment notice is the basic notice for the assessment of trade tax by the municipalities.

The tax office is also responsible for determining the bases of taxation for the apportionment of the measured amount. The tax assessment amount is to be split if business premises were maintained in several municipalities during the assessment period. The scale of apportionment shall be the wages attributable to the individual permanent establishments.

The trade tax assessment notice (basic notice) is sent to the municipality. The City of Wolfsburg determines the trade tax by means of the tax assessment notice (so-called follow-up notice) by applying the assessment rate decided by the council to the tax assessment amount.

The trade tax assessment rate for the City of Wolfsburg is currently 360%.

Advance trade tax payments are due on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15 of each year in the amount of one quarter of the assessed annual amount. The advance payments are determined either on the basis of a measurement amount determined by the tax office or in adjustment by the municipalities themselves (Section 19 (3) GewStG).

Objections to the trade tax assessment notice must be addressed to the competent tax office by way of an appeal. However, an appeal against the basic assessment does not release the taxpayer from the obligation to pay the tax to the municipality.

If the tax office amends the contested assessment, the City of Wolfsburg automatically adjusts the tax assessment.

The real property tax taxes the ownership and the development on real property. It is divided into property tax A (agricultural and forestry enterprises) and property tax B (all other real estate) and is one of the property taxes.

Do you own a dog older than three months and live in the city of Wolfsburg? Then you probably belong to the group of dog taxpayers.

Dog tax is levied for keeping dogs. The owner of a dog is the person who has taken in a dog in their own interest or in the interest of members of their household or business.

The annual tax is

• 108.00 euros for the first dog
• 144.00 euros for the second dog
• for the third dog and each additional dog 168.00 euros

The tax liability arises at the beginning of the collection period on January 1st of the respective calendar year. If the tax liability arises or ends in the course of a calendar year, the tax is calculated pro rata to full months. Tax reductions and exemptions must be applied for in writing. Further information can be found under § 5 of the dog tax statutes.

The care or custody of a dog also leads to taxation if a period of two months is exceeded.

Please notify us in writing within 14 days of the start or end of dog ownership.

Dog tax registration, deregistration and re-registration can be done online, at the town hall and also at a town or district office.

When deregistering the dog, the new owner or the new residential address must also be provided.

The dog tax is a local expense tax. Taxes are levies without a legal claim to consideration. They flow into the general budget of the City of Wolfsburg.

Forms

Statutes

Tax liability

The City of Wolfsburg levies an amusement tax in accordance with its amusement tax statutes for the following amusements of a commercial nature held within the city limits:

• Events of beauty dances, table dances, exhibitions of persons and performances of a similar nature;

• Showing of films not suitable for minors (operation of film booths for showing sex and pornographic films or similar visual presentations in cinemas, bars, nightclubs or similar establishments);

• the gambling of money or objects in gambling clubs, gambling casinos and similar establishments, unless covered by No. 4;

• the paid use of gambling, skill and entertainment apparatus, devices and automatic machines, including apparatus, devices and automatic machines for the gambling of money and objects (gambling devices), as well as music machines, insofar as they are accessible to the public;

• Catcher, wrestling and boxing events, if persons perform such fights professionally or commercially.

The beginning and end of the tax liability, the respective assessment basis and the tax rates are related to the respective taxable event and can be found in the amusement tax statutes.

Obligation to register and procedure

The person liable to pay the tax must submit a tax declaration on a form prescribed by the City of Wolfsburg within ten days of the end of the collection period. The tax notification is equivalent to a tax assessment subject to review within the meaning of Section 164 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). An assessment will only be issued in the event of deviations from the declared information.

If the tax debtor does not submit his/her tax return or does not submit it in full, missing taxation bases can be estimated in accordance with the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung). In the event of non-submission or late submission of tax returns, late payment penalties may also be levied.

The tax is payable on the respective due date.

The person liable to pay the tax must notify the first commissioning, decommissioning and changes to the place of installation of gaming devices by the tenth day of the following calendar month. The notification must contain the designation of the gaming device (type of device), the device name, the installation location, the time of commissioning / decommissioning and, in the case of devices with the possibility of winning, also the registration number. The City of Wolfsburg must be notified of all other taxable events no later than ten working days prior to the start of the event.

All persons who are liable to pay tax according to the amusement tax statutes of the City of Wolfsburg are obliged to register. Anyone who fails to comply with this obligation must expect a fine to be imposed.

Forms

Statutes