Tag: Germany

Steinbrueck presses for Deutsche Post to keep sales tax exemption (Germany)

Posted by | Jan 16, 2008 | |

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck plans to maintain Deutsche Post AG’s exemption from Germany’s general sales tax, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The move would rebuff economy minister Michael Glos, who is seeking to limit Deutsche Post’s existing tax break to services to households and small businesses, the newspaper said.

Companies that deliver letters countrywide at ‘affordable prices’ should be spared the general sales tax of 19 pct, the paper quoted the documents as saying.

This would leave only Deutsche Post benefiting from the exemption, the paper said.

Competitors of Deutsche Post including PIN Group have claimed that new minimum wage rules favour Deutsche Post and are forcing them to abandon or rein in plans to compete with the former postal services monopoly across Germany.

They have also said Deutsche Post’s tax break puts them at an even greater disadvantage.

The sales tax exemption is designed to reward Deutsche Post for delivering mail to even the remotest parts of Germany.

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Protests as TNT breaks German pay law

Posted by | Jan 16, 2008 | |

UNI is urging affiliates to join the protests against Dutch-based post and logistics giant TNT for undermining laws in Germany to protect postal workers as the sector is de-regulated.

UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings has accused TNT of “dubious actions in Germany” in a protest to the Amsterdam-based group’s Chief Executive Peter Bakker.
Under pressure from UNI affiliate ver.di and SPD coalition partners, the German government has introduced a legally binding minimum wage for the postal sector to ensure that rival operators do not drive conditions down in a race to the bottom to win postal business.

TNT-Post Germany – a subsidiary of TNT Group – is refusing to comply with the postal minimum wage (set at up to 9.80 euro an hour) and collective agreements negotiated by ver.di, which is the established postal union in Germany

Instead of dealing with ver.di, TNT has recognised a new union with dubious credentials to cover its operation in Germany and to negotiate agreements below collective and legal minimum standards.

The move puts at risk social provisions that governments introduce and unions negotiate to protect nearly two million postal workers in Europe as de-regulation is pushed across the European Union by 2011 for most countries and by 2013 for the remaining countries.

UNI is urging Mr Bakker to comply with Germany’s minimum wage and wants affiliates to send similar calls to the TNT CEO.

The new TNT-Post Germany union has failed to win approval of a German court to be registered. The leaders of the new union come directly from the executive offices of a postal provider and its financing is clouded in mystery.

The German labour minister has expressed serious doubts about the conduct.

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Leipzig/Halle Airport recorded its highest ever traffic figures in 2007 – cargo volume has risen to more than 100,000 tonnes

Posted by | Jan 15, 2008 | |

With a cargo volume of 101,285 tonnes and 2,723,748 passengers handled in 2007, Leipzig/Halle Airport recorded the highest ever traffic figures in its history. The number of flight movements, i.e. take-offs and landings, rose from 42,417 to 50,976, an increase of 20.2 percent over the previous year.

The cargo volume handled at Leipzig/Halle Airport rose from 29,330 tonnes to 101,285 tonnes, an increase of 245 percent compared with 2006.

This development is largely attributable to the growing commitment made by DHL, which, Mondays to Fridays, currently operates more than 30 flights from Leipzig/Halle every day.

Lufthansa Cargo has been using Leipzig/Halle Airport since October last year to operate 21 flights a week to destinations in the United States, in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Eric Malitzke, Managing Director Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH said: “progressive growth in the cargo sector and exceeding the 100,000 tonne mark clearly underline Leipzig/Halle Airport’s ambition to develop into a cargo hub of European importance within the next few years. With DHL opening its European hub this year, this positive trend will continue in 2008”.

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Tax check for pensioners in Germany helps save cash

Posted by | Jan 15, 2008 | |

Do I need to file a tax return or not? That is the question more and more pensioners who have rarely had to have any kind of dealings with the Finanzamt (German tax department) until now are asking themselves.

However, the Alterseinkünftegesetz (German retirement income act) requires approximately 3.5 million pension recipients to file a return. The fact that the Department of Finance will in future know about pensioners’ income because it can exchange data with other departments has made this a particularly explosive issue. Many of those affected are unclear about the legal position – and hence also about the tax relief options that are often available to them.

Two strong partners

This is where a new co-operation between two strong partners comes into the picture. Germany’s largest income tax assistance society, Vereinigte Lohnsteuerhilfe e. V. (VLH), and Deutsche Post AG’s Pension Service have set up a joint online service. VLH’s experts have set up the so-called ‘tax check’ on the Pension Service’s service platform, www.rentenservice.de and it can be used by pensioners and helpful family members with internet access free of charge as of now.

VLH and Deutsche Post’s Pension Service have a special offer for pensioners who avail themselves of VLH’s advisory services if it transpires that they are required to file a return. When they present their pensioner’s identity card, the joining fee, which is currently EUR10, is waived.

By expanding the portal, the Pension Service and various initiatives of the German federal government and the European Union are aiming to make using the internet simpler for pensioners.

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