10.01.2019
On January 1, 2019, a new regulation came into force that governs the tax treatment of those fees that infrastructure operators must pay to property owners or tenants for the use of land when their land is used for pipeline projects (electricity, gas, oil, district heating).
Since January 1, 2019, the payment of infrastructure operators is subject to a withholding tax, which is withheld directly by the respective infrastructure operator and must be paid by him to the tax authorities. The amount of the withholding tax is generally 10% of the respective amount to be paid to the property owner (excluding VAT).
The date of the respective contract conclusion is not relevant.
Infrastructure operators within the meaning of Section 107 of the Income Tax Act are electricity companies (within the meaning of Section 7 Paragraph 1 Item 11 of the EWOG 2010), natural gas companies (Section 7 Paragraph 1 Item 16 of the GWG 2011), companies subject to the Mineral Raw Materials Act insofar as they operate pipeline systems, and district heating supply companies (Section 10 of the Energy Promotion Act 1979). The debtor of the withholding tax is generally the recipient of the income (i.e. usually the property owner), see Section 107 Paragraph 6 of the Income Tax Act, although the person obliged to withhold the tax, i.e. usually the infrastructure operator, is jointly and severally liable for the payment of the withholding tax.
With the payment of the withholding tax, the income tax in relation to the income from the provision of land is usually settled, whereby (application principle!) according to Section 107 Paragraph 11 of the Income Tax Act, the taxpayer, i.e. the landowner, can exercise the standard taxation option and thus request that his general tax rate be applied to this income as well.