Trade tax
Service description
The authorization of the municipalities to levy trade tax, the so-called tax sovereignty, is based on the Municipal Tax Act and the Trade Tax Act. Trade tax is a property or material tax. The object of taxation is both stationary commercial operations and itinerant commercial operations.
The collection rate
The municipality determines the assessment rate by which the tax assessment amount is multiplied; the result is the trade tax to be paid.
The rate of assessment is set annually by the city council in the budget statutes.
The trade tax is determined by written notice. As a rule, advance payments of one quarter of the amount are due on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15. Additional payments based on a final assessment for an assessment period are due on the dates specified in the notice.
The current trade tax multiplier is 443 %.
The trade tax rates of the last few years for information purposes:
Year Levy rate 2003 to 2011 403 % 2012 to 2014 411 % 2015 to 2022 415 % 2023 to 2025 416 % since 2026 443 % Legal basis
The tax base is the trade income of the business. For the tax calculation, the tax office determines taxable amounts which are calculated by applying certain percentages (tax base) to the trade income. The tax rate for trade income is generally 3.5%, although an allowance is deducted from the trade income subject to trade tax. If permanent establishments are maintained in several municipalities or if a permanent establishment extends over several municipalities or if a permanent establishment has been relocated from one municipality to another municipality within a tax assessment period, the uniform tax assessment amount is broken down by the tax office into the shares attributable to the individual municipalities (apportionment shares).
When the tax assessment amounts are determined by the tax office, the personal and material tax liability is also decided. The municipality is bound by the findings of the tax office and must base its municipal trade tax assessment on them, even if the trade tax assessment has not yet become incontestable. Objections directed against the tax liability in general or against the tax assessment amount can therefore only be raised with the tax office that issued the trade tax assessment notice.