(Ger)man can’t live by bread, & coffee alone

Whether a tax tribunal is the best authority on what comprises a meal — in this case, breakfast — is far from certain. However, since such a court in Münster, Germany, has decided to venture into this territory, its verdict bears examination. It has decreed that the free bread rolls and coffee offered by a firm to customers and its own staff cannot be counted as breakfast (a taxable compensation) as it is not accompanied by butter, cheese, jam or cold cuts.

It was considerate of the court to clamp down on any move by taxmen to downsize the traditional German breakfast in order to extract a hefty retrospective fine, but the order will be news to those who scarf down espressos and lattes with croissants or doughnuts as their approximation of the classic ‘Continental’ breakfast as opposed to the more elaborate English or American version that also includes eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, toast and juice. They are obviously skipping breakfast — by German standards.

Given the German penchant for precision and rules, as reflected in the EU’s propensity to specify the curvature of bananas and meatiness of sausages among a host of other items both edible and inedible, this stipulation by a tax court does not come as a total surprise. In fact, a further elaboration on what constitutes other meals cannot be ruled out either.