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In a recent judgment, the “Oberverwaltungsgericht,” or OVG, the highest administrative court of Rhineland Palatine in Koblenz, ruled against “Hundesteuersatzung,” which is the dog tax regulation of the Union Community of Birkenfeld.
The regulation required German spouses of American military personnel to pay dog tax for their American spouse’s dog, even though the couple is stationed here on military orders and has SOFA status.
Since most communities in the KMC area have a similar dog tax regulation, the judgment applies to them as well.
While it is widely acknowledged that U.S. servicemembers and members of the civilian component are not subject to the tax, the community of Birkenfeld sought to circumvent that tax exception by obligating a German spouse to pay the tax, even if the dog belonged to the tax-exempt spouse.
The dog tax regulation created a fictitious joint liability, based on the fact the dog was kept in a joint household.
By tolerating the dog, the German spouse was considered to be jointly liable to pay the dog tax (“Gesamtschuldner”). The OVG ruled that the German spouse cannot be forced to pay the dog tax because there is no such joint liability.
Since the U.S. servicemember or member of the civilian component does not owe the tax, the dependent spouse cannot be held jointly liable to pay the tax, where there is no primary liability to begin with.
If your dependent spouse has been paying German dog tax, you should request a copy of the local dog tax regulation from your local town hall and present the regulation, as well as the order to pay taxes (“Steuerbescheid”), for legal review to your legal assistance office.
For more information or for an appointment, call Matthias Voelker, the German attorney-adviser at the 435th ABW/JA Law Center on Ramstein, at 4809-2552 or Joerg C. Moddelmog, the German attorney-adviser at the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center on Kleber Kaserne, at 483-8848.
