The Deutscher Steuerberaterverband (DStV) published Stellungnahme S 09/26 on 21 October 2026
Dstv on the federal government's draft Einkommensteuerreformgesetz 2027 (BT-Drs. 21/8235)Dstv, ahead of the Bundestag Finanzausschuss hearing on 4 November 2026Dstv. It also answers the Bundesrat statement (BR-Drs. 507/26). The DStV welcomes the aim of strengthening labour supply and growth while relieving families and low and middle incomes, but calls the draft an incomplete reform that shifts burdens and adds advisory work instead of simplifying the law. Nothing in the draft is in forceDstv.
The draft adjusts the § 32a tariff: the Grundfreibetrag rises to EUR 12,564 of zu versteuerndes Einkommen for 2027Dstv and EUR 12,900 from 2028, and the 42 percent Spitzensteuersatz applies from EUR 70,601. The DStV warns this does not offset kalte Progression, so purely inflation-matching pay rises can still raise the real tax burden. Above that, the draft brings the 45 percent Reichensteuer down to EUR 250,000 and sets a new Höchststeuersatz of 47 percent from EUR 280,000. With the 5.5 percent Solidaritätszuschlag still charged in full, the combined burden reaches up to 49.59 percent. Because most Mittelstand firms are Einzelunternehmen or Personengesellschaften taxed directly under the Einkommensteuer, the DStV warns the tightening widens the gap to Kapitalgesellschaften even as the Körperschaftsteuer falls stepwise from 15 to 10 percent over 2028 to 2032 and the § 34a rate falls from 28.5 to 25 percent. It demands a full, if possible automatic, inflation offset, full abolition of the Solidaritätszuschlag, and a substantially improved § 34a relief and § 1a KStG Optionsmodell.
For payroll, the draft raises the § 3b base-wage ceiling for tax-free Sunday and holiday bonuses from EUR 50 to EUR 75 per hourDstv while night-work bonuses stay at EUR 50Dstv. The DStV objects that the three shift types are commonly recorded together and would now have to be split, doubts the split meets Article 3 Grundgesetz, and urges uniform treatment or dropping the measure, preferring relief through the tariff itself. The draft SvEV change would lift the EUR 25 threshold only for tariff-regulated Sunday and holiday bonuses, forcing case-by-case tariff checks and inviting Sozialversicherung audit disputes; the DStV demands contribution freedom tied to objective criteria and alignment of Lohnsteuer with Sozialversicherungsrecht under § 17(1) sentence 2 SGB IV. The Arbeitnehmer-Pauschbetrag under § 9a rises from EUR 1,230 to EUR 1,430, which the DStV welcomes in principle but rates as weak simplification since Pflichtveranlagung cases under § 46(2) EStG must file Anlage N anyway; it urges the BMF expert commission's Arbeitstagepauschale covering commuting, home office and study instead.
On private disposals, the ten-year Spekulationsfrist of § 23(1) sentence 1 no. 1 EStG for non-owner-occupied real estate survivesDstv: the Bundesrat did not follow its finance committee's proposal to tax gains even after ten years. The DStV expressly welcomes that outcome and rejects any abolition, including the Greens' motion (BT-Drs. 21/6637), warning of decades-long documentation duties, hardship for inherited property, retroactive interference with investment decisions and constitutional risk.
Advisers should treat every figure as draft-stage material: prepare payroll for a possible Sunday/holiday-night split, model 2027 tariff scenarios provisionally, review § 34a and § 1a KStG options for owner-managed firms, and track the 4 November hearingDstv. Legal basis is the Regierungsentwurf Einkommensteuerreformgesetz 2027 (BT-Drs. 21/8235) with the Bundesrat statement (BR-Drs. 507/26), the Einkommensteuergesetz §§ 3b, 9a, 23, 32a, 34a and 46, the Körperschaftsteuergesetz § 1a, the Sozialversicherungsentgeltverordnung § 1 and § 17(1) SGB IV.
