“Measures to address the impact of coronavirus.”

Considerable economic damage has already been caused by the coronavirus. The tax authorities want to accommodate the aggrieved parties through the following tax measures to avoid undue hardship:

• Entrepreneurs and individuals who are demonstrably directly and not insignificantly affected may apply to reduce advance income or corporate income tax payments and defer taxes due until December 31, 2020. In such cases, no strict requirements should be imposed when verifying the conditions for deferrals, even if it is not possible to provide detailed evidence of the value of the damage incurred. As a rule, interest on de ferrals should not be charged.
• Enforcement actions against those severely affected by coronavirus should be waived upon request until Dec. 31, 2020.
• Upon request, the tax offices can also arrange for the reduction of advance trade tax payments for 2020, especially if they have already adjusted advance income or corporate income tax payments.
• Applications for deferral and remission of trade tax payments shall be addressed to the authority responsible for assessing and levying trade tax.
• The federal states have decided that the 2020 special advance sales tax payments can be reduced and refunded in part or in full (i.e. to 0 euros) upon application.

In the period from 01.03.2020 to 31.12.2020, allowances (cash or non-cash benefits) paid to employees in addition to the wages owed anyway remain (wage) tax-free and non-contributory for social insurance purposes up to the amount of 1,500 euros.

In addition, the federal, state and local governments have adopted various funding measures:

• Liquidity grants for small and micro enterprises (graded according to the number of employees), which do not have to be repaid but are to be considered taxable income.
• Loans as liquidity support.

Applications should be submitted to the development bank of the respective federal state. KfW9 loan programs with release from liability are handled through the applicant’s house bank.

The social security limits for short-term employment (§8Abs.1Nr. 2 SGB IV) will be raised from 3 months or 70 working days to 5 months or 115 working days in the period from 01.03.2020 to 31.10.2020.

Under certain circumstances, the statutory health insurance funds can grant employers an interest-free deferral of the social security contributions due for their employees in the event of considerable hardship.
If the employer has statutory health insurance himself, he may apply to his health insurance fund for a reduction in contributions. In both cases, consultation with the respective health insurance company is recommended.

The Minijob-Zentrale has held out the prospect of unbureaucratic help for minijob employers in the event of payment arrears.