European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes letters procedures for obtaining tax Relief discussed one of the benefits we enjoy in Germany is the Relief from payment of the value added Tan . The procedure for obtaining la re Lief though Lime consuming has been Worth the Effort due to the savings realized. As most of us who have availed ourselves of the program know the following procedures must be followed. I. Obtain a sales ticket from the merchant indicating the amount of Sale without lax and listing the amount of tax separately. 2. Visit the military tax Relief office on the individual s installation and obtain a he afro form 22-161, customer application. ". 3. Fill out the form and return it to the tax Relief office with the merchant s sales ticket. Pay the tax office the amount of the sales less tax in dollars or Marks. 4. At this Point the tax office will prepare a form 4067-r, order for supplies or services request for quotations the German lax Relief form enl Wickluno site Inland a Check in Marks for the amount of Sale 5. Pick up the forms and Check from the tax Relief office. Take the Check and All forms to the merchant pay for the merchandise with the Check and pick up your Purchase. ,. 6. Have the merchant sign stamp and Date the a form 4067-r and return the Pink copy to the tax Relief office. Leave the Check and All copies of the Entwick lungs Licin with the merchant. Until recently his cumbersome procedure has been Worth the Effort. Even for Small purchases the s 5 to Worth the inconvenience of getting the assistance of the tax Relief of Jan. 3, however All lax Relief offices throughout Germany now assess a service charge of s4-per Check for their services. A recent Purchase on which i was to save 12 Marks was virtually invalidated by the service charge. The charge wiped out about 75 percent of the amount i was to have saved. Clearly in is no longer Worth the Effort to obtain lax Rel icon Small purchases. Why can t any american who is entitled id Relief under the nato status of forces agreement Deal directly with the merchant thus avoiding the service charges of the military tax Relief office -. Please answer the following questions. Is it legally permissible for an american under the sofa to Purchase tax free directly from a Mer chant assuming that the merchant is willing to make up the ? under the sofa is the a form 4067-r required by the German government for tax free Pur chases i Why has the $4 service charge been implemented and is the lax Relief office aware that in effectively eliminates Relief on Roost Small purchases Why can t each tax office prepare tax Relief packages for Dod sponsored personnel which con Tain All of the forms necessary for a Purchase and a simple set of instructions whereby an individual can do the paperwork himself Pir Masens West Germany we recently had to take our car to be serviced at a German garage since cafes docs not service diesels they recommended a German garage. After to weeks we were informed that our car was finished. We went to the garage and paid for the re pairs the clerk old us to take the Bill to our finance office to receive a form to get the German tax Back. When we got to finance and the right office we were told we would not receive the taxes Back. We were informed that we should have Only gotten a copy of the Bill brought it to them with he Money and then they would make a Check put to the garage minus the tax. Apparently they thought at the garage that we Jet the form and bring in to them for us to gel the Money Back from them. We have never done this before but surely there must be a Rule somewhere that we can get he Money Back. We were told hard Luck. This seems a Little stiff to us. I would t complain but s 70 Marks in taxes alone seems a Little More than hard Luck. Well know Bill or next Lime. Can we eel this Money Back How docs one get the Money Back they pay for the tax.?, bobbins Mannheim West Germany editor s note we received two replies to these idlers. The first is from Gene r. Silvers Deputy director he Safe Monte welfare and recreation division. A " a would like nothing Buller than to simplify oar current procedures unfortunately this cannot be done without a change to the current stylus of forces agreement sofa and the concurrence of the Federal Republic of Germany government. If a Vendor is allowing an individual tax Relief for Cash purchases that Vendor and the individual Are in Viola Tion of German tax taws. V a v the cd Mil sofa Between West Germany and the United states is the basis for our value added tax vat program. The sofa provides for tax Relief on authorized Purchase of the is. Fortes but docs not Autho Rize lax Relief for purchases by individual members of lie us. Forces. Dental care questioned e fully appreciate Why ills is not feasible you must under stand thai our primary task is to support the readiness we have just completed our third year in Germany. We Are starting our. Fourth. We just love it.1 we have seen a lot of Europe arid enjoyed Ever minute of in , maybe nol , i just waited a whole year for my dental exam until my sponsor s birth month. Then i sat in the waiting room for Over a hour to be seen Only to be told yes Jou need some fillings but you will have to come Back another Day and sit stand by for three hours and then we will give you another what kind of garbage is this. A,.civilian Delisl would never treat his patients like this or he would be out of business. If the. Facilities Here arc not big enough to care for the dependents then what arc Here now they want 10 charge us for being treated this Way. Whom Are they trying to kid the treatment of dependents is one thing 1 will not miss i can l Wail to be treated like a first class citizen again. Jeanne Labbe Sembach a West Germany editor s note col. Kenneth i kit wars com Mand denial surgeon he Safe cd replies we an pleased to respond to your letter regarding family member dental care. However since you did not identity the Branch of service or the location of the denial service you visited our comments must be of r general nature Anil from an air Force perspective. Furi Hennora they May nil pertain to Alt dental clinics in Safe. We acknowledge that waiting an hour May be excess Sivc and encourage you to Contact the senior officer to Jour denial clinic for the personalized explanation you deserve. No one shares your frustration of limited of truly member denial care More than the dental officers As signed to Safe. It would be wonderful to be Able to provide unlimited dental care to All beef Kairies. To Mission of Active duty personnel by ensuring optimal dental health and keeping them dentally qualified for world wide duty. Lease dental clinics therefore Are staffed based solely on the Active Dury population und must maintain ready Access to dental care for that population. Thus we have limited resource thai must be carefully managed an analogy might help to understand our situation he population of Safe Active duly plus family members is roughly the same As that of birding Hun the German us office allows our vat Relief program to operate As Long As the Purchase is made by an Sulho rid Agency of the us. Forces and that is Why individuals must process purchases through the vat office the us office also requires hat us Relief cannot be provided after delivery acceptance and payment of the goods or services have been completed. As far As the processing fee is concerned air Force vat offices Bave required a processing fee for four Yean. The fee is necessary to cover the Cost to non appropriated funds of administering the program. We believe it is appropriate to require the participants Bene fiting from the program to snare in the Cost of the pro Gram. The second reply is from John Sll Rcd mar staff officer Usa eur Community and family support. Agency v. Thank you for your interest in the value added lax Relief program. It is certainly one of our most important Means of enhancing the Quality of life for us. Forces personnel and their families Nhu Are stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany. Provisions of agreement la the nato status of forces agreement require that an official procurement Agency of the us. Forces make nil purchases on behalf of their individual members. Accordingly we have designated Community morale welfare and recreation funds As the vehicle for provid ing this support. Administrative procedures such As the Purchase order you mentioned Are necessary to maintain Ade quate control and thereby satisfy the German ministry of finance that we Ore properly managing the pro Gram it is possible however that in the future we May be Able to streamline this somewhat cumbersome pro. " Cess. Earlier in the year Ihu commander in chief of Usa Keur sent a proposal to the German govern ment through the . Ambassador which if accepted would greatly simplify the procedures for obtaining vat Relief. Until this proposal is acted upon we shall continue our efforts to imprint sir Rocc to the customer. Converting vat Relief offices to ont Stup opern tons installing automation and Cash Register equip ment to shorten processing time for the 5,000-plus applications we receive each week and developing new procedures to expand the v at Relief to Utility Bills and official travel arc just u few of i ways we Are upgrade ing our services. W while the recently implemented service charge erodes savings on Small purchases y believe thai the major improvements it makes possible will offset the Cost. Nation Given to those patients who for whatever reason cannot be seen after waiting a certain amount of time no necessarily consecutive. Unfortunately this policy is often mls perceived by patients As some sort of punish men As your comments suggest. On the contrary it is designed to make up for those times when standby opportunities Are insufficient to allow All patients on the waiting list to be Seena vhf ii is far from Ideal but Given our Mission and staffing constraints it satisfies our goal of providing at least some care for the greatest number of people. A reminder. Local policies May differ Check with your dental Ala that being 235,000. There Are presently 194 dental officer assigned to Safe while Birmingham has 450 practitioners. This represents a shortfall that without substantial increased funding May Nerer be Resol Rdv in spite of this last year Safe dental officers did Over $14.5 million Worth of dental care for family members representing 37 percent of the total care delivered. In order to maintain timely Access to care for Active duty personnel it sometimes becomes necessary to cur Tail scheduled appointments for routine treatment for other than Active duly. Many of our dental facilities us a standby system to provide Access for other than Active duty. Standby opportunities for routine dental care Are created when a regularly scheduled patient either cancels or Breaks an appointment. Flu in patents ire then Uken from a standby waiting list based on the order of sign up the time available and the amount and kind of Ireat men needed. Although most patients on the waiting list Are usually treated the Delenne Nung factors Are 1, the number of cancelled or broken appointments and 2, the number of names on the waiting list. This is similar if you will to space available air travel if there is room on the plan you Fly if not you wait for another Fuget unlike Ibe air terminal which will not guarantee a confirmed reservation some dental services Gate an a. Wein Safe Are proud of a Haic have been Able to provide under the limiting constraints to our family members. Generally speaking,1 we offer a scheduled examination and a dental cleaning once a year the same frequency As Active duty personnel 24-hour me Regency dental can preventive dentistry appointments for our children orthodontic Al selected locations for those who meet eligibility requirements and same kinds of special bed care when work Load permits. We feet we. Do All of this nth the compassion and respect due that of All citizens and nil the knowledge that Given lit restraints we have just discussed ivc a Annot satisfy every pc. We regret that we hate fatten Short of your expectations Ana Hope you now hate a better appreciation of Pur limitations All sponsors should encourage those families in the Continental United slates cynus Frith assignments to Europe to Complete i Clr dental Reitt ment White they Are still in the United states and can take advantage of the dependent dental Pun def. The dip is a Cost sharing plan in which family members in the states except for those under the age of 4, Are automatically enrolled. Unfortunately dip is not available overseas and dental treatment on the Economy can be expensive., armed Nib i information and the knowledge that dental care in military facilities will be limited families can avoid the frustrations you have experienced ,
