The sign of the tax office for corporations III in Berlin-Tempelhof Photo: dpa/picture alliance
From BZ/dpa
There are more than 400 full-time positions vacant at the Berlin tax offices.
This emerges from a response from the Senate Department of Finance to a request from left-wing MP Sebastian Schlüsselburg, which was initially reported by the “Tagesspiegel”. Accordingly, more than 6 percent of around 6,500 positions are vacant (as of July 31). According to the information, there were only just under 270 vacancies at the end of 2022.
According to the information, the tax office for investigation and criminal matters is particularly affected, where around one in five full-time positions is unfilled. Berlin’s four tax offices for corporations also suffer from a lack of staff. Around one in ten positions are vacant, and there is a total shortage of 142 full-time employees.
“Overall, the application situation is also challenging for the tax offices,” says the tax administration. Among other things, it is trying to attract interested parties with an increased advertising budget and a new advertising campaign. Member Schluesselburg called on Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU) to make strengthening the tax offices a top priority.
“Especially now, when economic growth and tax revenues are collapsing, strict action must be taken against tax evasion and tax avoidance,” he said. In order to find interested parties, he suggested, among other things, a poaching campaign at tax offices.