According to § 1 GewStG, the trade tax is due to the respective municipality in which the business is carried out. Special features arise as a result if a commercially active company has establishments in several municipalities. Taxation in only one municipality would lead to unequal treatment of the other municipality, which is why a division of the trade tax (respective of the measured amount) according to §§ 28 to 35 GewStG must be carried out here. We will show you how to do this!
In many cases, commercial enterprises maintain several premises. According to § 12 sentence 2 AO, these are, for example, production facilities, warehouses, sales outlets and administrative sites. If the individual establishments are located in several municipalities, you will carry out a division of the trade tax according to § 28 (1) sentence 1 GewStG.
For this purpose, there is always a separate consideration of the respective survey periods, i.e. the calendar years in which the establishment existed (§ 14 sentence 2 GewStG). If a company publishes its permanent establishment from one to the other municipality or opens a new one, the division of the trade tax may be carried out pro rata temporis (§ 28 (1) sentence 2 GewStG).
The division of the trade tax is carried out in such a way that the total measured amount to be determined according to § 11 (1) sentence 2 and paragraph 2 GewStG is divided among the individual municipalities. Responsible for this is the permanent establishment or residence tax office (§§ 19 to 21 AO).
The respective shares of the trade tax measurement amount attributable to the individual municipalities (decomposition shares) are determined by the tax office on the basis of a decomposition scale. According to § 29 (1) no. 1 GewStG, these are the wages paid at the respective locations. These put you in relation to the total amount of wages and salaries. As a result, you receive the percentage of the trade tax measurement amount.
The following principles apply to the division of trade tax in accordance with §§ 29 to 31 GewStG:
This article does not replace tax or legal advice in an individual case. Facts, current law, jurisdiction, documentation and implementation remain decisive.