Temporary VAT reduction by 3% until 31.12.2020

The interim invoices were paid without my acceptance.

The final interim payment will be issued after acceptance, thus it is the final invoice.

and then the determination of the tax depends on whether this acceptance takes place in 2020 or in 2021. Then the construction sum net * tax rate - advance payments (gross) = remaining claim is calculated.

The interim invoices were paid without my acceptance.

The last interim payment is issued after acceptance, so it is the final invoice.

Then it actually looks pretty good for you. In my opinion, what the general contractor declares in his VAT return for 2020 or what he declared for 2019 (if you have already paid an interim payment then) is decisive.

I think you can only finally resolve this by talking to your general contractor or his tax advisor...

In my opinion, what matters is what the contractor declares in his VAT return for 2020 or what he declared for 2019 (if you already paid an advance then).

That is completely fine.

As @Allesandro describes the case, 16% have to be paid. The question is only how the price is determined, and that depends on the conclusion of the contract (see §29 USTG). But if I understood correctly, most contractors were willing to pass on the reduction.

Just a dumb question in between: What kind of mistakes can you think of when calculating the VAT savings incorrectly?

Background: Our general contractor apparently didn’t calculate with Price/119*116 and therefore doesn’t arrive at -2.52%. The contractor calculates with a reduction of -2.91%. I mean, if by chance the VAT reduction should be extended into 2021, I could save a bit more because he’s too stupid to calculate. But I’m interested in which calculation error leads to the wrong result.

The usual mistake is to calculate the 19% not based on the net, but on the gross amount. So x - x*19/100 + x*16/100. However, that would be exactly 3% and cannot be the mistake here. But do you seriously want to benefit from an error? Apart from the fact that the contract can be reversed because of this error, it is a bit cheeky, don’t you think? Don’t you return too much change?