Income splitting

When splitting process methods for the determination of income tax of maintenance communities are called. In this case, the individual incomes of people who earn above average, tax attributed in whole or in part, to other people in the maintenance community livelihoods.

The background is the world's standard progressive taxation, which means that the tax burden is rising faster than income. It is justified by the ability to pay principle: who deserves much, can do without a higher proportion of their income than those who earn little.

Since (especially families) often distributes the income of the principal earner on several heads during maintenance communities, however, the performance of the entire maintenance community is less suspect than implied by the isolated view of the main breadwinner. Allen splitting methods have in common that they try to compensate for this disadvantage in whole or in part.

Well-known examples are the German income splitting and the French family splitting. In other areas of tax law and without progression splitting method can be used.

So, for example, runs family insurance in the German statutory health insurance only for those couples on a splitting addition, the entire family income is no higher than the income threshold: in this area of ​​income is the " contribution freedom" of income- attached members ( eg spouse, children) that there is no difference maintains that it is distributed within the family income. Without this splitting the single-earner family would pay the same performance more posts. However, where the entire family income is higher than the income threshold, it is no longer a splitting, but a method using a single-earner family is much better with the same family income as a family with two approximately equal -earning spouses: with the same family income, unless is above the income limit, pay in one- and two- earner marriages different levels of contributions, since the total contributions due from the distribution of income depend on the spouse. Income of single-earner marriages is taken into account only up to an income threshold, income from income- uniformly distributed dual-earner marriages but to the extent of twice the income threshold.