Tax Office Holiday Break in Saxony and Dresden
Want a break from tax office worries over the winter holidays? Good news for Saxony's citizens! Finance Minister Hartmut Vorjohann (CDU) has requested Saxon finance ministers to grant a "Chrismas truce." During this time, tax offices will hardly interfere with your life, except in extreme situations.
No External Audits or Enforcement Measures
From December 23rd to New Year, look forward to no external audits, and no enforcement actions will be implemented. Even reminder notifications will be put on hold for technical reasons, with automatic reminders returning on January 2nd.
Why the Holiday Break?
The Christmas truce aims to account for the unique nature of Christmas and contribute positively to the relationship between taxpayers and their local tax offices. But what about other municipalities? The State Ministry of Finance isn't responsible for implementing similar regulations for cities and municipalities aside from their suggestions.
Dresden's Christmas Truce
Dresden has also joined the festive spirit, suspending certain enforcement measures from Dec 6, 2023, to Jan 5, 2024. The enforcement field service will halt home visits, vehicle seizures, and home searches from Dec 20 to Jan 1, 2024. This truce won't interfere with regular tax assessments; however, the exceptional case clause permits enforcement actions for urgent situations.
Global Holiday Internet Habits
Looking beyond Saxony, research reveals that Christmas holidays see a decrease in internet traffic in many countries. For example, Europeans tend to cut off their internet use on Christmas Eve (Dec 24), while Americans observe such drops on Christmas Day (Dec 25).
However, the sources don't reveal if other municipalities outside of Dresden or Germany implement holiday break enforcement measure suspensions similar to Saxony.
U.S. Water Supply System Holiday Issues
In the United States, there have been incidents involving local water supply systems. In Whitehall, New York, a water treatment facility break down caused temporary water outages and contamination issues during Christmas in 2021. But once again, these incidents don't provide any link to holiday break enforcement measure suspensions in municipalities.
[1] Associated Press, Water shortages hit parts of US as drought takes its toll (APNews, Aug 17, 2022), .
