Reicht nicht schon die Notlage der Schifffahrt?

摘要

The shipping industry is in great need while threatened by further bankruptcies. It can hardly get worse than now. But German federal tax authorities claim new insurance taxes which may function as a disastrous ?final countdowns for pool vessels. Specific irreproducible new tax assessment notices have been sent to shipping companies. These notices do not show why a new tax has to be paid at all. So, ?Bundeszentralamtfur Steu-ern (BZSt)? collects some 3 to 19% insurance tax on a basis unknown to taxpayers at a time when regular tax audits have not even started. The BZSt (Federal Central Tax Office) has somehow come to a new interpretation of pool ship solutions which now qualify for insurance agreements from a fiscal point of view and therefore have to be taxed. This angle contradicts common legal practice valid for many years. A pooled vessel, however, which becomes subject to intra-pool balancing has not paid any fee or insurance rate during the service time to qualify for the pool balancing. Therefore, basic requirements for insurance are non-existent, argues the author.%Der Song-Titel ?Final Countdown? der Rockgruppe ?Europe? geht mir nicht mehr aus dem Sinn. Die Ursache dafür sind Versicherungssteuerbescheide, die jüngst an Schiffsgesellschaften ergingen, die in unterschiedlichen Poolformen zusammengeschlossen sind, und keiner wei?, warum diese Bescheide kommen. Nachdem ich den ersten Bescheid dieser Art in der Hand hatte, ging mir eine Textzeile des Songs durch den Kopf: ?Will things ever be the same again?? Wahrscheinlich nicht, denn irgendjemand, der offenbar nicht ganz bei Sinnen ist, hat sich eine Ungeheuerlichkeit allererster Güte einfallen lassen.