Amount of late payment penalties not unconstitutional after all?

A new decision by the Federal Fiscal Court does not consider late payment surcharges to be unconstitutional because they are primarily a means of exerting pressure and not interest.

The Federal Fiscal Court has already had to rule several times on the suspension of the enforcement of late payment surcharges. The issue is whether the amount of the late payment surcharges is unconstitutional because they have a proportionate interest character. Unlike the other senates, the judges of the VI Senate have no serious doubts about their constitutionality. The VI Senate sees the late payment surcharges primarily as a means of pressure by the tax authorities, meaning that the unconstitutionality of the previous interest regulation is not transferable. The final clarification of the issue will therefore take some time.