Tax on Sex Workers in Germany

Germany councils demand a cut of the action


20th April
2012
  

Update: Flawed Floor Tax...

Tax inspectors set task of measure the areas of Stuttgart businesses set aside for pleasure

Stuttgart tax inspectors are facing the task of measuring the floor space in all the Stuggart's brothels, after a new per square metre tax was introduced on the oldest profession.

The collectors initially resorted to extensive internet research to find all the sex businesses in the city, but found their computers blocked from the relevant sites. Once the necessary special permission was granted, taxman Rolf Kiener and his colleagues were initially shocked. It's rather eye-opening what's out there, he said.

The new tax means that all spaces in the city used to sell erotic pleasures will be taxed by the square metre, including strip clubs, porn cinemas and brothels. Establishments that offer both initial approach and completion of a transaction will be forced to pay as much as EUR10 per square metre per month.

To save embarrassment, tax inspectors will be measuring up the premises by appointment rather than turning up unannounced.

 

 

Update: Meter Maids...

Bonn judges scheme to tax street walkers to be a success


Link Here4th September 2012

A sex meter scheme, taxing prostitutes 6 euros a night to work the streets of Bonn has raised more than 35,000 euros for public coffers in its first year.

Prostitutes working the streets have to buy themselves a ticket from the converted parking meters each night, or face a fine. In fact wardens have only handed out about 20 fines so far.

The sex tax has been accepted by the prostitutes, said city spokeswoman Elke Palm. The idea, introduced last August, was an extension of a tax imposed on brothels in the city at the beginning of 2011, Die Welt newspaper reported.

The tax scheme includes the provision of performance huts where prostitutes and their customers can conduct business. This has reduced the number of complaints from people living near the areas where prostitutes work, said Palm.

Mechthild Eickel, chairwoman of the sexworkers' association Bufas, said it was unfair that prostitutes rather than their customers should have to pay the tax. It is a pleasure for the customers. Why don't they put the money in? she asked the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

 

 

Update: No Flat Rates for Room Rates...

German brothel owner thwarted from charging the discounted VAT rate for hotel rooms


Link Here 24th October 2013
Rooms rented out for prostitution in Germany don't qualify for a tax break granted to hotels, a federal court said.

A VAT rate of 19% applies when rooms are used for commercial purposes, including sex work, the Federal Fiscal Court ruled from the southern city of Munich. The reduced tax rate for hotels is 7%.

The owner of the Eros Centre in Duesseldorf, rented out 13 erotic rooms equipped with jacuzzis to sex workers on a daily or weekly basis. He argued the rooms were eligible for the tax break because they were not specifically designed for the provision of sexual services, but operated as regular hotel rooms.

However the court ruled:

From the location of the building in a red-light district, it is clear that the plaintiff did not keep the premises for accommodation, but for the practice of prostitution.



old Walking Street sign
 
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