Section 3: Taxable amount

§ 10 Taxable amount for supply of goods, services and intra-Community acquisitions

(1) A transaction shall be assessed based on the consideration for supplies of goods and services (§ 1 paragraph 1 number 1 sentence 1) and intra-Community acquisitions (§ 1 paragraph 1 number 5). The taxable amount shall include everything which constitutes the value of the consideration that the taxable person providing the supply obtains or is intended to obtain from the recipient or from a person other than the recipient in return for the supply, including the subsidies directly connected to the price of those transactions, but excluding the VAT legally owed for that supply. In the case of intra-Community acquisitions, excise duties owed or paid by the purchaser are to be included in the taxable amount. In the case of supplies and intra-Community acquisitions within the meaning of § 4 number 4a sentence 1 lit. a sentence 2, the costs incurred for supplies within the meaning of § 4 number 4a sentence 1 lit. b and the excise duty owed or paid by the taxable person removing goods from a VAT warehouse are to be included in the taxable amount. The amounts, which a taxable person receives and spends on behalf of and for the account of another person (transit item) shall not be included in the taxable amount. If, upon receipt of a multi-purpose voucher (§ 3 paragraph 15), there is no indication of the amount of the consideration received for the voucher under sentence 2, the taxable amount shall be assessed according to the voucher value itself or according to the monetary value indicated in the related documents, minus the VAT which is accordingly due for the goods supplied or the services provided.

(2) In the case where rights are transferred that are linked to the ownership of a pawn ticket, the price of the pawn ticket plus the pawn amount shall be deemed to be the agreed consideration. In the case of a barter transaction (§ 3 paragraph 12 sentence 1), barter-like transactions (§ 3 paragraph 12 sentence 2) and the relinquishment in lieu of payment, the value of each transaction is deemed to be the consideration of the other transaction. The VAT is not part of the consideration.

(3) (deleted)

(4) The transaction is assessed as follows in the case of

1. a transfer of own goods within the meaning of § 1a paragraph 2 and § 3 paragraph 1a, as well as in case of a supply of goods within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 1b, on the basis of the purchase price plus ancillary costs for the goods or for comparable goods or in the absence of a purchase price based on the production cost, in each case as at the transaction date;

2. supply of services, within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 9a number 1, on the basis of the costs incurred in executing these transactions, provided that they qualify wholly or partially for an input VAT deduction. Also included in these costs is the acquisition or production costs of an asset, provided that the asset is allocated to the business and is used in provision of the services. If the acquisition or production costs amount to a minimum of Euro 500, the costs must be spread evenly over a time period that, in accordance with § 15a, corresponds to the depreciation period applicable to the asset;

3. supply of services, within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 9a number 2, on the basis of the costs incurred in executing these transactions. Sentence 1 number 2 sentences 2 and 3 shall apply accordingly.

VAT is not part of the taxable amount.

(5) Paragraph 4 shall apply accordingly to the following supplies of goods and services carried out by

1. corporate entities and associations of persons within the meaning of § 1paragraph 1 numbers 1 to 5 of the Corporate Tax Act, associations of persons having no legal capacity, as well as associations carried out as part of their business activities to their shareholders, proprietors, members, partners or their related parties, as well as sole traders to their related parties;

2. a taxable person to his employees or their relatives on the basis of the employment relationship,

however, if the taxable amount under paragraph 4 exceeds the consideration under paragraph 1, the transaction shall not be assessed higher than the market value. If the consideration under paragraph 1 exceeds the market value, paragraph 1 shall apply.

(6) For passenger traffic by non-scheduled services using buses not licensed in Germany, an average transportation fee shall be applied in lieu of the agreed consideration as a tax base in cases where the separate taxation scheme for passenger traffic (§ 16 paragraph 5) is applied. The average transportation fee is to be calculated based on the number of persons transported and the number of kilometres travelled on the transportation route in Germany (person kilometres). The Federal Ministry of Finance, with the consent of the Federal Council, may issue a directive stipulating the average transportation fee for each person kilometre. The average transportation fee must result in a VAT liability that does not significantly differ from the amount that would result under this Act in the absence of the application of the average transportation fee.