Construction: Exemption certificate no longer "to take away"

Exemption certificates for construction services are now only sent centrally by mail. The construction company must submit the application in a timely manner, for example via the Elster portal. It is no longer possible to pick up the certificate directly from the tax office.

Exemption certificates for construction services (§ 48b Income Tax Act) can no longer be issued and handed out immediately at the local tax office, the Rhineland-Palatinate State Tax Office is reminding affected companies and self-employed individuals. The reason is the nationwide standardization of the procedure for the central storage of exemption data.

Companies in the construction industry need the exemption certificate for their clients. This certificate exempts clients from the obligation to pay 15 percent of the gross amount as construction withholding tax to the tax office. With the new procedure, applications will be processed more efficiently in the future. Processed uniformly by machine nationwideThis means that to a certain extent Time required before the certificate is issued required. 

The certificate will be automatically backdated.

The exemption certificate is not transmitted digitally, but usually by mail. sent centrally by postThe state office emphasizes that a so-called pre-dating period of at least three days will then be automatically taken into account, but this can be extended by weekends or public holidays.

The State Tax Office also points out that the application for a certificate of exemption should be submitted early. (preferably 14 days in advance)) should be submitted to the relevant tax offices – especially if a specific deadline for submission to the client must be met. The application can be submitted informally via the electronic portal Elster (www.elster.de - "other message") or submitted by email or letter to the responsible tax office.

Check authenticity: The authenticity and validity of the exemption certificate can be verified by the client. check with the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt). You must first register as a user.

Source: Rhineland-Palatinate State Tax Office; DHB

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