Tax exemptions

Pursuant to § 5 Aviation Tax Act (LuftVStG), the following legal transactions which entitle a passenger to fly from a place of departure in Germany are exempt from aviation tax:

• departures of passengers who are below the age of two and do not require a seat of their own (§ 5 No 1 LuftVStG)
  
• departures of passengers on aeroplanes or helicopters if the flight exclusively serves military or other official purposes (§ 5 No 2 LuftVStG)
  
• repeat departures of passengers who have returned to the place of departure in Germany or to another airport in Germany due to the flight having been aborted (§ 5 No 3 LuftVStG)
  

• departures of passengers from and to German islands which are not connected to the mainland by a road or railway that is unaffected by tides. However, this only applies to departures of passengers
  

  • who have their principal place of residence on one of such islands,
    
  • who are flying in order to provide medical care for persons located on a German island, or
    
  • who are going about official business on an island.

  A further precondition for exemption is that the departure or destination airport is located either on the mainland at a distance of not more than 100 kilometres in a straight line from the coast or on another German island. (§ 5 No 4 LuftVStG).
  
  This therefore means, for example, that flights from the mainland to the islands of Rügen, Fehmarn and Sylt are not exempt from the tax.
  Nor are flights of tourists to or from the islands exempt.

• Departures of passengers on board of aeroplanes or helicopters which serve medical purposes only (§ 5 No 6 LuftVStG)
• Departures of passengers on board of aeroplanes with a maximum take-off weight of up to 2,000 kilograms (or in the case of helicopters, a maximum take-off weight of up to 2,500 kilograms) for round trips (§ 5 No 7 LuftVStG). Round trips are defined as flights in which the place of departure and arrival are identical and no further landing takes place in the course of the flight (§ 2 No 6 LuftVStG)

• Departures of flight crews (§ 5 No 8 LuftVStG). Flight crews are defined as all persons on board of an aeroplane or helicopter who are engaged in (§ 2 No 7 LuftVStG):

  • piloting of the aeroplane or helicopter,
  • technical monitoring, service or repair of the aeroplane or helicopter,
  • the safety of the passengers or
  • the service of the passengers

Reduced rate of aviation tax for island flights pursuant to § 11 (3) LuftVStG

By decision of 6 February 2020 [C (2020) 731], the European Commission authorized Germany to reduce the rate of aviation tax on flights pursuant to § 11 (3) LuftVStG (island flights) to 20 percent of the tax rate provided for in § 11 (1) No 1 LuftVStG.

The reduced rate of aviation tax on island flights pursuant to § 11 (3) LuftVStG applies to departures by passengers who are not already tax-exempt pursuant to § 5 No 4 LuftVStG either from or to a German, Danish or Dutch North Sea island which is not connected to the mainland by a road or railway that is unaffected by tides if the place of departure or destination

• is located on the mainland at a distance of not more than 100 kilometres in a straight line from the coast, or
• is located on another German, Danish or Dutch North Sea island.

More information about the reduced tax rate for island flights pursuant to § 11 (3) LuftVStG