Challenging the official margin tables
An administrative table is not a statute.
Yes — and the strongest objection is a fundamental one. The Richtsatzsammlung, the collection of official margin tables, is an administrative instruction of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It is not a statute, it does not bind the courts and it does not replace the statutory yardstick. That yardstick is in § 162 Abs. 1 Satz 2 AO: all circumstances of significance for the estimate are to be taken into account — the circumstances of the actual business, not those of a comparison group.
A margin figure is a range, not a value
For each trade the collection gives a lower, an upper and a middle gross mark-up rate. That form alone says there is no single correct value. Where within the range a particular business sits depends on its own conditions: location, range, price level, staffing structure, opening hours, share of takeaway. It is precisely these conditions that are the circumstances whose consideration § 162 Abs. 1 Satz 2 AO requires.
What speaks against simply applying a margin figure
The provisions in this table are German law. Most European legal orders know the same principle — set out verbatim and by country in the register of legal bases.
| Objection | Legal basis | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| The statutory yardstick | § 162 Abs. 1 Satz 2 AO | All circumstances of the individual case that are of significance for the estimate. |
| Only as far as necessary | § 162 Abs. 1 Satz 1 AO | Estimation only in so far as nothing can be established or calculated. |
| Precedence of the accounts | § 158 Abs. 1 AO | Proper accounting shall be taken as the basis — before any external comparison value. |
| The threshold | § 158 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 AO | Only once there is cause to object to substantive accuracy. |
| Favourable circumstances too | § 88 Abs. 1 Satz 2 AO | Circumstances favourable to the taxpayer must also be taken into account. |
| Latvia for comparison | 23. pants Abs. 7 likuma „Par nodokļiem un nodevām“ | There the statute names the direct method from documents and accounts first, the indirect one only after it. |
The internal comparison beats the external one
A margin figure is an external business comparison: it measures a business against other businesses. A full calculation from its own goods input is an internal comparison: it measures the business against itself. The internal comparison rests on the circumstances of this case, the external one on those of others — and § 162 Abs. 1 Satz 2 AO asks about the circumstances of this case.
What the objection does not carry on its own
Establishing that your own mark-up is below the official figure is not an argument but the starting position. It becomes an argument only once it is explained and evidenced why — and once the explanation can be recalculated. Without figures it is an assertion against an administrative table, and the table has the advantage of being written down.
What we contribute
We determine your mark-up from your own documents and recipes — completely, not in samples — and set out what distinguishes it from a sector average. Not as an opinion, but as a derivation that can be recalculated.
The legal provisions cited here are given for information and do not replace legal advice.