Music teachers, both freelance and those working at music schools or other institutions, will in future have to pay 19% sales tax on their lessons, unless they are for vocational training. This would make piano lessons for children considerably more expensive and unaffordable for some parents. There is now resistance to these government plans.
Here is the one from the singer Saskia Saegeler signed the petition text, edited:
The current government draft of the Annual Tax Act 2024 provides for an amendment to Section 4 No. 21 a) bb) UStG with far-reaching consequences. The previous certification procedure for exemption from sales tax is to be abolished and the decision as to whether music lessons are an “educational service” preparatory to university/vocational studies or merely a “leisure activity” (and thus subject to sales tax) would be the responsibility of the tax authorities from 2025.
Lessons significantly more expensive
This means that all freelance teachers (including freelancers at public and non-profit institutions) would have to justify the content and motives of their teaching and in many cases would possibly be wrongly classified by people who are not experts in the field. All teaching would be examined to see whether it actually provides vocational training or further education (and without the intention of making a profit).
If not, it would be taxed as a leisure activity at 19% VAT. This would have existential consequences for freelance music teachers and would result in a significant increase in the cost of instrumental and singing lessons and early musical education, and would make access to musical education extremely difficult. Music and movement education, qualified choir directors, all private music schools, dance education and many other areas of cultural education would also be affected.
Music is education
As a musician and music teacher, I am not only concerned about the existence of my profession and the diverse vitality of the musical treasures of our culture, but also about fair educational and development opportunities for children, young people and adults.
The music culture in our country would suffer drastically; the joy of music and the positive effects of making music on personality development, social, concentrative, creative and cognitive skills, which have been proven in numerous studies, will be accessible to far fewer children, young people and adults!
Qualified music lessons are always an educational achievement in many ways! Cultural education serves the common good and, in the spirit of the right to education, must be comprehensively protected and promoted under all circumstances and must be affordable for the entire population.
Profession in distress
At the same time, people who make this educational service possible must of course earn enough to be able to live off it. Under no circumstances should independent teachers, who make up a large part of our educational landscape and ensure its diversity, be disadvantaged in any way by law.
According to the EU directive, education is to be exempted from VAT (Article 132 of the VAT Directive). This includes the education of children and young people, school and university education, training and further education, professional retraining and all services closely related to the above – in other words, all instruction that relates to the content of school and university education. The assessment of what constitutes educational performance can never be made by a tax authority. This always requires a qualified assessment by state authorities entrusted with educational issues.
The petition
35 associations and initiatives (including the German Association of Music Artiststhe German Music Councilthe Federal Association of German Singing Teachersthe Federal Association of Independent Music Schools and many more) are therefore demanding in a position paper that qualified music lessons must remain exempt from sales tax in principle.
This exemption from VAT must of course also apply to all other areas of cultural education, such as artistic dance lessons, further education and generally all educational services that benefit the development of communicative skills.
You can Sign the petition here.
Text: Petition, Image: Nebelhorn, taken in August 1985
