By Sabine Klier
Jens-Peter Mickmann (49) had to pay a surcharge of 1 euro because the buyer of his car only deregistered it eight days later, but the motor vehicle tax was due in the meantime. The postage for the decision alone cost 85 cents!
The graduate economist and graduate commercial teacher from Wilmersdorf knows his way around numbers – and is therefore annoyed by the 1-euro bill.
Mickmann: “This is German bureaucracy in its purest form. The proportionality of effort and income is not economical and is disproportionate.”
On January 8, he sold his defective Mercedes E-Class through a workshop. However, the buyer did not register the vehicle until eight days later and registered it again.
“I was obligated to deregister it,” says Mickmann, “but I trusted the buyer to do it in good time.”
At the beginning of February he received the receipt: a letter from the main customs office in Frankfurt/Oder with a request to pay a surcharge of 1 euro for the vehicle tax. Otherwise there is a risk of a dunning procedure.
The economist’s calculation: “85 cents postage, plus paper costs, personnel and workload – that’s more than the sum requested.”
Mickmann paid the one euro. But he says: “One should fundamentally consider whether it makes sense to demand such small amounts. After all, the taxpayer bears the total costs for the process.”
Astrid Pinz, spokeswoman for the main customs office in Frankfurt/Oder, on BZ: “Tax assessments are automated and sent without the intervention of a clerk.”