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The German federal government is planning to counter the current high costs of energy by introducing a relief premium. Employers will be able to make a voluntary pay-out to their employees of up to 1,000 euros tax- and social security-free by the end of 2026.

Article 3 of the Seventh Regulation Amending Tax Regulations expands the Digital Payroll Interface (Digitale Lohnschnittstelle–DLS). In future, employers are not only to prepare standard payroll data digitally but also the data determined and used for this purpose used by upstream and ancillary systems. The tax authorities’ goal is understandable. In practice, however, the change will throw up considerable technical, organisational and data protection questions. This new version of section 4(2a) of the Income Tax Implementing Regulation (Lohnsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung–LStDV) applies to the data recorded in payroll accounts from 1 January 2027.

Part 2 of our four-part Health Check series: A Wage Tax Health Check helps companies identify typical tax risks at an early stage and review internal processes. Errors frequently arise in areas such as entertainment expenses, company events, gifts, or the private use of company cars and e-bikes – often due to unclear responsibilities or missing data flows between departments. A structured Health Check creates transparency, identifies optimization potential and better prepares companies for wage tax audits.

A celebration to send off valued staff members when they leave is to thank them personally, together with their closest family members, and to look back on what you have achieved to-gether. But companies often combine this with practical business goals such as announcing who will take their place or talking to business customers.

In its judgement on 9 September 2025 (file ref. VI R 7/23), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) answered an important question on company car taxation: can costs for a parking space or garage paid by the employee reduce the non-monetary benefit from the private use of a company car?

Active pensions, electronic allowances, income thresholds, electric cars – as 2026 begins, employers are again facing numerous challenges in payroll and social security. These have come about from recent court decisions, the authorities changing their interpretations and new legal regulations.

On October 15, 2025, the German Federal Government issued the draft for the so-called "Flexible Retirement Act" (“Aktivrentengesetz”). The aim of this law is to provide tax relief for employees who continue to work in jobs subject to social security contributions after reaching the statutory retirement age.

The introduction of a Tax Compliance Management System (Tax CMS) is often a complex project. In practice, there are various pitfalls: for example, different priorities, scarce resources and technical hurdles. To successfully master these pitfalls, corresponding experience from comparable projects is required.

In the world of tax, compliance management systems (tax CMS) continue to be a hotly debated topic. The discussion gained new momentum from the current test phase (Section 38 of Article 97 of the Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code [EGAO]) for DAC7. Tax authorities may now promise specific simplifications for future tax audits if the current audit has confirmed the effec-tiveness of the existing tax CMS.