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Selected service: Paying VAT for passenger transport by bus and coach across the border to German seaports and Switzerland
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Paying VAT for passenger transport by bus and coach across the border to German seaports and Switzerland

Source: Zuständigkeitsfinder Schleswig-Holstein (Linie6Plus)

Service Description

If you as a company transport passengers across borders at German seaports or across the border to Switzerland with buses and coaches that are not registered in Germany, you must pay VAT.

The tax is payable if

  • your bus or coach is not registered in Germany and
  • you transport passengers in occasional traffic across a third country border of the Federal Republic of Germany in return for payment. Occasional transport means, for example, excursions, trips to vacation destinations and transport with rental buses. A third-country border of the Federal Republic of Germany is a border with a country that is not a member of the European Union, i.e. the borders between Switzerland and Germany and at the German seaports.

You must pay the tax regardless of whether you run a company based in Germany or abroad or whether you transport German or foreign passengers. The tax is due as soon as the bus crosses the border. The customs office at the border collects the VAT for each individual transport operation in what is known as the individual transport taxation procedure.

In the individual transport taxation procedure, VAT is calculated on the basis of an average transport charge. The average transport charge is 4.43 cents, and the sales tax at a tax rate of 19 percent is therefore 0.84 cents for every passenger kilometer you travel in the Federal Republic of Germany. You calculate the passenger kilometers by multiplying the number of passengers transported by the number of kilometers actually covered by the bus in the Federal Republic of Germany.
For example: If you transport 50 people in a bus over 100 kilometers in Germany, the result is 5000 passenger kilometers.

No input tax amounts are taken into account for individual transportation taxation. This means that the VAT you pay when purchasing goods or services for your company, known as input tax, is not refunded. However, you can apply for a refund of input tax amounts if the input tax is related to the transportation of passengers that was subject to individual transport taxation.


Process flow

When entering and leaving the Federal Republic of Germany via the German seaports or the border with Switzerland (third country border):

  • For each individual journey, complete the VAT return form for the transportation of passengers in cross-border occasional services by bus or coach not registered in Germany in duplicate. You can do this in advance. You can also obtain the form directly from the customs office at the border.
  • The carrier of the bus or coach, for example the driver, must submit both completed forms to the customs office at the border.
  • The customs office assesses the tax and returns a copy of the form to the carrier.
  • The carrier must pay the tax immediately.
  • The customs office gives the carrier a tax receipt. The carrier must carry this receipt and the form with him on the entire journey.

When leaving the Federal Republic of Germany via the German seaports or the border with Switzerland (third country border):

  • The receipt and the form must be presented by the carrier to the customs office at the border when leaving the Federal Republic of Germany for a third country. If the number of passenger kilometers actually covered by the bus in the Federal Republic of Germany later differs from the number on the form on entry, the carrier must submit a new tax return as described above and the procedure is the same as above. If the amount is less than EUR 2.50, the carrier does not have to submit a new tax return.
Requirements
  • The buses and coaches you use to transport passengers are not registered in Germany.
  • Your buses and coaches cross third country borders of the Federal Republic of Germany in occasional traffic.
Which documents are required?

You do not need to submit any additional documents.

What are the fees?

There are no costs for you.

What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?

Submission of the tax return:
Immediately upon each transportation (entry or exit) across a third country border to the Federal Republic of Germany

Payment of the tax:
immediately

Processing duration

Calculation of the tax amount at the border: immediately

Issuing the tax assessment notice at the border: immediately

Legal basis
Appeal

Objection

Applications / forms
  • Forms: yes
  • Online procedure possible: no
  • Written form required: yes
  • Personal appearance required: yes
Weiterführende Informationen
Author
Forwarding service: Deep link to the original portal

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.

Teaser

If you as a company transport passengers across borders at German seaports or across the border to Switzerland with buses and coaches that are not registered in Germany, you must pay VAT.

Process flow

When entering and leaving the Federal Republic of Germany via the German seaports or the border with Switzerland (third country border):

  • For each individual journey, complete the VAT return form for the transportation of passengers in cross-border occasional services by bus or coach not registered in Germany in duplicate. You can do this in advance. You can also obtain the form directly from the customs office at the border.
  • The carrier of the bus or coach, for example the driver, must submit both completed forms to the customs office at the border.
  • The customs office assesses the tax and returns a copy of the form to the carrier.
  • The carrier must pay the tax immediately.
  • The customs office gives the carrier a tax receipt. The carrier must carry this receipt and the form with him on the entire journey.

When leaving the Federal Republic of Germany via the German seaports or the border with Switzerland (third country border):

  • The receipt and the form must be presented by the carrier to the customs office at the border when leaving the Federal Republic of Germany for a third country. If the number of passenger kilometers actually covered by the bus in the Federal Republic of Germany later differs from the number on the form on entry, the carrier must submit a new tax return as described above and the procedure is the same as above. If the amount is less than EUR 2.50, the carrier does not have to submit a new tax return.

Requirements

  • The buses and coaches you use to transport passengers are not registered in Germany.
  • Your buses and coaches cross third country borders of the Federal Republic of Germany in occasional traffic.

Which documents are required?

You do not need to submit any additional documents.

What are the fees?

There are no costs for you.

What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?

Submission of the tax return:
Immediately upon each transportation (entry or exit) across a third country border to the Federal Republic of Germany

Payment of the tax:
immediately

Processing duration

Calculation of the tax amount at the border: immediately

Issuing the tax assessment notice at the border: immediately

Legal basis

Appeal

Objection

Applications / forms

  • Forms: yes
  • Online procedure possible: no
  • Written form required: yes
  • Personal appearance required: yes

Weiterführende Informationen

Author

Forwarding service: Deep link to the original portal

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.

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