General revenue administration - €25.8 billion Departmental budget No. 60
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2021 draft budget
Departmental budget No. 60
General revenue administration
€25.8 billion
expenditure
93.6
€413.4 billion
2021 draft budget
25.8 departmental budget allocations
18.8
14.9
2018 2019 2020 2021 500
target target target draft +/- 0
trend in targeted expenditure staff
€ billion established posts/positions
compared to previous year
expenditure to address the Covid-19 pandemic 10.2
grants to off-budget funds 3.0
expenditure to fund the phase-out of coal power 1.5
expenditure on additional human resources 1.1
major expenditure items
€ billionate
Summary
Departmental budget No. 60 “General revenue administration”
primarily sets out the appropriations of those federal revenues and
expenditures that either do not come under the remit of any line
ministry or concern cross-cutting matters. The 2021 draft budget also
includes expenditure to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore,
this departmental budget encompasses revenue and expenditure plans
for seven off-budget funds.
The tax revenue is by far the largest revenue item projected in budget
chapter 6001. The 2021 draft budget estimates tax revenue to amount
to €292.0 billion. Despite a modest recovery compared to the 2020
target, the revenue to expenditure ratio is still far below the 2019
level. We repeatedly found weaknesses and shortcomings in enforcing
compliance with tax laws. These weaknesses and shortcomings reduce
projected revenue. As a result, we see an urgent need for action to
combat VAT fraud, for example. Apart from that, we see the need for a
statutory provision on sharing the interest burden incurring in case of
non-compliance of Member States with EU tax law.
Chapter 6001 also includes tax allocated to the federal states, local
governments and the EU. They are shown as negative balances and,
in the 2021 draft budget, reach a volume of €66.0 billion compared
to a 2020 targeted amount of €57.1 billion.
The volume of across-the-board appropriations (overall tax revenue
and losses, spending and spending cuts) has been significantly
expanded in departmental budget No. 60. More specifically, from 2021
to 2024, an annual across-the-board spending cut of -€6.0 billion
serves to absorb savings made in budget implementation.
Furthermore, in medium-term planning from 2022 to 2024,
departmental budget No. 60 will encompass a total of across-the-board
spending cuts and extra revenues of €42.5 billion. They provide the
basis to cover the fiscal need for action according to the federal
government’s assessment.ate
From a fiscal point of view, they constitute funding gaps that limit the
scope of action significantly.
The 2021 draft budget estimates EU own resources of €37.9 billion
(excluding customs duties of €5.0 billion). The significantly higher
estimates are based on the multiannual EU financial framework 2021-
2027, even though final deliberations on the financial framework have
not taken place. For years, there have been negotiations about a
reform of the EU own resources regime. In addition to a simplified
methodology to assess the VAT own funds, the member states recently
agreed to work towards implementing new own funds. In a first step,
they intend to implement a tax on plastics effective from 1 January
2021.
The federal government supports the federal states in planning,
organising and funding local public transport annually with a share of
tax revenues on energy. The annual amounts of these state funds for
local and regional passenger services are laid down by statute. They
are expected to rise from €9.3 billion in the 2021 draft budget to
€11.3 billion in 2031. Our audit exercises show that often the federal
states do not put these funds to appropriate and timely use. Unused
funds for local and regional passenger services have increased to
several billion euros in the meantime. The financial share of the
federal states to local public transport is low compared to the federal
share. The federal government should urge for a stronger commitment
of the federal states – not least with a view to climate change
mitigation.
The reserve built up from budget surpluses in the years from 2015 to
2019 amounts to €48.2 billion and, according to the 2021 draft
budget, will once again not be used to strengthen the revenue side.
Leaving the reserve untouched impacts largely on net borrowing needs
to cover the costs to counteract exceptional emergencies pursuant to
Article 115 para. 2 sentence 6 of the Basic Law. We hold that this
approach is questionable under constitutional law.ate
The reserves of the Special Energy and Climate Fund in particular and
the Digital Infrastructure Fund to a lesser extent have significantly
increased. Only the reserve of the Special Energy and Climate Fund
reaches tens of billions of euros. The reason for this high amount is an
inappropriate estimate of allocations from the 2020 federal budget.
Given the available reserves, we recommend using these reserves for
the 2021 budget implementation and refraining from allocating further
grants to the Special Energy and Climate Fund of €2.5 billion and to
the Digital Infrastructure Fund of €0.6 billion provided for in the draft
budget.
The funds to increase staffing levels of €1.1 billion provided for in the
2021 draft budget (chapter 6002 title 461 71) have been overstated.
On the one hand, applicable public service agreements for civil service
staff and public sector employees, do not burden the budget as much
as expected.
On the other hand, the departmental budgets of the line ministries
have major amounts of budget funds that eligible for covering funding
needs as appropriate. These funds should be used to compensate for
the additional expenditure arising from the most recent public service
bargaining round. Therefore, we recommend not including an estimate
of funds to increase staffing levels.
The federal government faces significant financial challenges. The
budget is patchwork. Nevertheless, for the years from 2022 to 2024,
the federal government has decided against relying on the emergency
clause pursuant to Article 115 para. 2 sentence 6 of the Constitution
once again. It is doubtful whether the federal government is able to
achieve this objective, which is advisable in budgetary and financial
terms, without consolidation measures. Seen from the perspective of
departmental budget No. 60 alone, this gives rise to considerable
risks.
0.10 The budget figures used in the report were coordinated with the
Federal Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance does not concur
with our assessment as to fiscal advice and recommendations included
in this report on the reserve, across-the-board spending items and
cost-cutting proposals.ate
2020 report – Update prepared to inform the 2021 budget deliberations
about the trend in departmental budget No. 32 “Federal revenue
administration”
Overview
Departmental budget No. 60 “General revenue administration” differs largely
from the other departmental budgets which reflect the structure and tasks of
the government departments. In contrast, this budget primarily sets out the
appropriations of those federal revenues and expenditures that either do not
come under the remit of any line ministry or concern cross-cutting matters (cf.
Table 1).
Table 1
Departmental budget No. 60
General Revenue Administration
2019 2019 difference 2020 2021 Changes
targeted actual actual/ targeted budget 2020/2021b
amount amounta targeted amount estimate
amountb
€ million %
departmental 338,829.4 337,002.2 -864.3 273,525.3 300,445.1 9.8
revenue
revenues from coinage 302.0 241.5 -60.5 332.0 250.0 -24.7
(chapter 6002)
revenue from reserves 5,483.9 0.0 -5,483.9 0.0 0.0
(chapter 6002)
adjusted revenue 333,043.5 336,760.7 3,717.2 273,193.3 300,195.1 9.9
2019 according to
Art. 82 (2) Federal
Budget Code
taxes (chapter 6001) 325,491.0 328,989.4 3,498.4 264,446.0 291,970.0 10.4
general appropriations 9,993.6 4,684.0 -5,309.6 5,713.5 5,089.8 -10.9
(chapter 6002)
of which
revenue from 557.0 613.9 56.9 1,607.0 2,440.0 51.8
companies/public
shareholdings
revenue from the 2,500.0 2,433.5 -66.5 2,500.0 2,500.0 0.0
Federal Bank’s profits
tax revenue losses -241.0 0.0 241.0 0.0 -3,978.9
payments as part of
27.2 22.4 -4.8 27.1 26.9 -0.7
German unification
(chapter 6003)
issues related to the 2,415.2 2,413.4 -1.8 2,418.8 2,420.4 0.1
federal property
assets (chapter 6004)
other pension liabilities
902.4 893.0 -9.4 920.0 937.9 1.9
(refunding by federal
states)
(chapter 6067)
departmental 14,888.0 27,363.3 9,219.9 93,600.7 25,794.5 -72.4
expenditure
allocations from the 13,047.6
reserves (chapter 6002)
adjusted 14,315.7
expenditure 2019
according to Art. 82ate
(2) Federal Budget
Code
general appropriations 12,231.9 24,913.6 9,399.9 90,934.4 23,119.3 -74.6
(chapter 6002)
of which
compensation to the 6,134.0
local governments for
losses in trade tax
Immediate Assistance 18,000.0 0.0 -100.0
Programme
COVID-19
Bridging Assistance 24,600.0 2,000.0 -91.9
Programme
COVID-19
grants to the Special 1,792.0 1,792.0 0.0 26,523.2 2,453.7 -90.7
Energy and Climate
Fund
grants to the Digital 0.0 0.0 1,222.2 570.6 -53.3
Infrastructure Fund
grants to pension 8,485.5 8,384.0 -99.5 8,910.6 9,148.1 2.7
funds for former civil
servants of the federal
post office
across-the-board 2,746.5 5,000.0 82.0
spending due to
COVID-19
promotion of coal
500.0 0.0 0.0 1,000.0 1,500.0 50.0
regions including funds
budgeted to cover
unexpended balances
capital expenditure 0.0 0.0 0.0 2,267.5 -100.0
economic stimulus
package 2020
across-the-board -350.0 0.0 350.0 -3,719.1 -6,000.0 61.3
spending cuts
expenditure on 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1,100.0
additional human
resources
title group 4
payments as part of
231.6 130.2 -85.4 196.6 196.5 - 0.1
German unification
(chapter 6003)
other pension liabilities 2,424.5 2,319.5 -94.6 2,469.7 2,478.7 0.4
(chapter 6067)
commitment 1,382.0c 1,605.4 200.7 25,109.4 7,731.2 -69.2
authorisations
established posts/positions %
staff 500 68d -432 500e 500 0
Notes:
a After adjustment (cf. budget account 2019, overview No. 4.9).
b Calculated on the basis of the original figures; any differences due to rounding.
c Including excess and extra-budgetary commitment authorisations.
d Actual staffing as of 1 June 2019.
e Cf. actual staffing on 1 June 2020: 19 established posts/positions.
Sources:
Departmental budget No. 60. For the year 2019: budget account; for the year 2020: budget estimate (in the
version of the 2nd supplementary budget); for the year 2021: draft budget estimate (official records of
parliament 19/22600).
Expenditure incurred for addressing the Covid-19 pandemic is also included in
departmental budget No. 60. As a result, the number of new titles has
significantly increased against prior years. Departmental budget No. 60 also
encompasses revenue and expenditure plans for seven off-budget funds.
The Federal Ministry of Finance transferred the management of individual
departmental budget titles to the line ministries.You can also read
