Millions of property owners have an important deadline to observe – and there is good news for pensioners in Germany. What else does July bring?
Pensions are rising, so is the minimum wage, and anyone who has concluded a contract on the Internet will be able to terminate it more easily in the future. An overview of the most important changes in July:
Elimination of the EEG surcharge
After more than 20 years, the so-called EEG surcharge, which customers pay on the electricity bill, will no longer apply. It is currently 3.72 cents per kilowatt hour. Experts do not expect electricity prices to fall as a result of the abolition, but at least a dampening of the sharp increase.
End of the Corona “citizen tests”
The offer of free quick tests for everyone ends in June. “Citizen tests” are only free for certain risk groups: children up to five years of age, women at the beginning of pregnancy, visitors to clinics and nursing homes, members of the household of infected people. As a rule, three euros are now due out of pocket per test: for example, before attending concerts indoors, before larger family celebrations or visits to older people, after risk contacts in the event of a warning on the Corona app.
Property tax statement
According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, it has to be recalculated: millions of house, apartment and property owners must therefore submit a kind of second tax return from July to the end of October at the latest, usually electronically via the Elster platform – with data such as hall number, year of construction , living space and standard land value. Depending on the federal state, sometimes more or less information may be required because the states use different calculation models. For apartment owners, it is usually a few hundred euros a year, for owners of larger apartment buildings it can also be four-digit amounts. The owners will probably not find out how much is due in the end until 2025, because the property tax value to be calculated from their data is only one component in the calculation of the property tax – and the municipalities can adjust their assessment rates and thus determine how much they have to pay .
Significant increase in pensions
There is good news for the 21 million pensioners in Germany: In the west, pensions will increase by 5.35 percent as of July 1st and by 6.12 percent in the east. There are also improvements for people who have been drawing a disability pension for a long time. In the future, pensioners who received a disability pension from 2001 to 2018 will receive supplements. The fact that the increase in pensions is as strong as it has been for a long time is thanks to the good wage development in Germany.
Packages are getting more expensive
Sending parcels via DHL will be more expensive on July 1st. A two-kilogram package whose brand is available online now costs EUR 5.49, which is 50 cents more. The picture is mixed for shipments abroad: in some cases, the fees remain constant, in others they almost double, for example with heavier packages to the USA.
Easier to terminate contracts online
Anyone who concludes a contract on the Internet will be able to terminate it more easily in the future. As of July 1st, so-called continuing obligations will be subject to the obligation to have a cancellation button, which consumers can use to get rid of their contracts without a lot of searching and writing letters.
Minimum wage increases
The statutory minimum wage will rise from 9.82 euros to 10.45 euros per hour on July 1st. That is an increase of a good six percent.
No Hartz IV sanctions
Job seekers will have fewer Hartz IV sanctions to fear by the middle of next year. The possibility of reducing unemployment benefit II by 30 percent in the event of a breach of duty is to be suspended for one year. This applies, for example, if reasonable work is not accepted. However, in the event of repeated failure to report or missed deadlines, there is a risk of benefit cuts of up to 10 percent of the standard rate. The law is scheduled to go into effect on July 1.
Obligation to take back old electrical equipment
The obligation to take back old electronic devices will be extended on July 1st. Then, for example, supermarkets and discounters will also be affected if they offer such devices several times a year.
tobacco tax
E-cigarettes will be included in the tobacco tax from July 1, so that the prices of the ingredients, so-called liquids, are likely to rise.
cellular
A new EU regulation brings improvements for mobile phone customers. From July, you should be able to use the same services in other EU countries as at home – as long as the same networks and technologies are available in the Member State you are visiting. Consumers who can use 5G at home should also have access to 5G services in the 27 EU countries as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. In addition, roaming services are to be automatically interrupted in order to avoid further charges when previously set upper limits have been reached through the consumption of data or call volume. This also applies to roaming outside the EU.
Source: Stern
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