Coffee tax; payment
If you handle coffee or goods containing coffee, you must pay coffee tax under certain conditions.
Description
Coffee tax is a tax levied on coffee and coffee-containing goods as defined by law. These include:
- Roasted coffee
- soluble coffee
- Cappuccino
- cáfe au lait
- Espresso
- Mocha
- latte macchiato certain confectionery containing coffee
You may produce, handle, process, store, receive or ship coffee in a tax warehouse without first incurring tax. A tax warehouse must be approved by the main customs office.
The tax arises as soon as coffee is removed from the tax warehouse or coffee-containing goods are produced there. In addition, the tax arises, among other things, if you
- produce goods containing untaxed coffee without a permit from the main customs office, or
- supply coffee to persons without a permit for the tax-free commercial use of coffee, or
- import coffee or goods containing coffee from another country into Germany or transport them for commercial purposes.
The amount of tax is based on the type and quantity of coffee or on the coffee content in goods. The tax rate is EUR 2.19 per kilogram for roasted coffee and EUR 4.78 per kilogram for soluble coffee. If goods containing coffee are transported to Germany, flat tax rates apply depending on the content of roasted coffee or soluble coffee in the goods.
If you have to pay the tax, you must file a tax return without being asked to do so. If you do not wish to pay coffee tax initially, you will need permission from the main customs office.
Prerequisites
You must pay coffee tax if the tax has arisen and you are the tax debtor within the meaning of the law. This can be the case in various constellations, in particular if
- you are the owner of a tax warehouse from which the products were taken or consumed,
- you were involved in a production using untaxed coffee without a permit,
- you have supplied the coffee to persons without a permit for the tax-exempt commercial use of coffee, or
- you were involved in irregularities during a transport during which the tax was suspended.
Procedure
You declare the coffee tax in writing as follows:
- Download the appropriate form from the Customs Administration website or the Federal Tax Administration's Forms Management System (FMS):
- Use Form 1807 and 1808 if you removed or consumed coffee from a tax warehouse.
- Use Form 1816 for other tax filings, for example, if you
- Unlawfully removed or consumed coffee from a tax warehouse,
- Produced coffee or goods containing coffee without a permit,
- participated in irregularities in the movement under tax suspension, or
- supplied coffee to persons without permission for tax-exempt commercial use.
- Fill out the form completely and mail it to your main customs office.
- The main customs office will check your tax return.
- If discrepancies are discovered during the check, you will be given the opportunity to correct incorrect information or complete incomplete information up to the due date of the levy. If the claim is already due or if you do not correct the information, the main customs office will assess the taxes with a tax assessment and inform you of this.
- If the check does not result in any objections, the amount of duty due is normally collected from your account by direct debit. In these cases, you do not need to do anything further.
- If the coffee tax has arisen in connection with irregularities or a disregarded prohibition, you must also calculate it yourself and submit a written tax return: To do this, use the form "Tax declaration for coffee and/or coffee-containing goods in individual cases" (Form 1816).
- If you import coffee or goods containing coffee from a third country, you submit the tax declaration as part of the customs declaration.
The responsible customs office is the main customs office from whose district you operate your business or, if you do not operate a business, in whose district you are domiciled. If your business is operated from a location outside Germany or if you do not have a place of residence in Germany, the main customs office in whose district you first appear for tax purposes is locally responsible.
Deadlines
Submission of tax return:
If you have withdrawn or consumed coffee from a tax warehouse:
- No later than the 10th day of the month following the date on which the tax was incurred.
Immediately, if you
- Unlawfully removed or consumed coffee from a tax warehouse,
- produced coffee or goods containing coffee from untaxed coffee without permission
- participated in irregularities in the movement under tax suspension, or
- Have supplied coffee to persons without permission for tax-exempt commercial use.
Paying the tax:
If you have taken or consumed coffee from a tax warehouse:
- Without request, by the 5th day of the 2nd month following the date on which the tax arises.
If the tax arises because a prohibition has been disregarded or an irregularity exists:
Processing time
The processing of your application usually takes 2 weeks.
Remedy
Detailed information on how to file an appeal can be found in your tax assessment.
- Action before the Tax Court
Links to more information
Status:09.05.2023
Responsible for editing:Bundesministerium der Finanzen
- Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
- Online transactions, locally limited
- Form, Bavaria-wide
- Form, locally limited
- Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, locally limited
- Fees, Bavaria-wide
- Fees, locally limited