19/11/2024 - For the first time, more than 7 million enterprises liable to turnover tax were captured in turnover tax statistics (assessments) for reference year 2020. At 6.78 trillion euros, the supplies and services provided remained clearly below the 7 trillion mark of the previous year, however, dropping by 3.4% compared with a year earlier. The remaining turnover tax fell by 7.1% to 170.57 billion euros. One reason for the decrease was the temporary turnover tax reduction from 19% to 16% and 7% to 5% in the second half of 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
These results mean that turnover tax statistics (assessments) capture more than twice as many enterprises liable to tax (+133.2%) as turnover tax statistics (advance returns). By contrast, supplies and services were up by only 4.2%. This is due to the fact that turnover tax statistics (assessments) also include enterprises that are not required to submit advance turnover tax returns because of low annual turnover and enterprises that primarily generate tax-free turnover. Accordingly, the number of enterprises liable to tax differs the most from those captured in turnover tax statistics (advance returns) in sections D “electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply”, K “financial and insurance activities” and Q “human health and social work activities”.
Of all enterprises liable to tax, more than 3.59 million, or 50.9%, generated turnover of up to 22,000 euros in 2020. This also included 11,139 enterprises reporting negative supplies and services. Most taxpayers captured in turnover tax statistics (assessments), that is 69.6% of all cases, are natural persons or sole proprietorships.