Is Driving Without a Catalyst Tax Evasion?

Request to the Dortmund police - May 13.05.2020th, XNUMX

To: Pressstelle.dortmund@polizei.nrw.de
Subject: Driving without a catalytic converter

Dear Sir or Madam,

we, the CFD GmbH, are a Dortmund trading company with a focus on vehicle tuning. We sell a wide variety of accessories for everything to do with motor vehicles across Europe. As a verified company by the TÜV, we obtain a wealth of parts certificates, ABEs or Swiss conformities for all product types every year. Legal tuning is therefore our hobbyhorse.

On our company's own YouTube channel, we inform (potential) customers factually, among other things, about licensing issues and thus want to make a contribution to more security. I am currently researching for a video on the subject of "Consequences of driving without an exhaust catalytic converter or manipulation of catalytic converters". The HZA Dortmund has already been able to answer various questions relating to tax law. I have the following questions for you:

As a general rule:

1. Are the officers specially trained before specific checks, if so by whom?
   1. References: https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/4971/4569833
2. What is the general procedure if incorrect accessories are found?
3. Is there a catalog for classifying improper parts and / or constellations that are considered to be a hazard to other road users?
4. Is the selection of a due fine by the police or another authority?
5. If the operating permit simply expires (without endangering or impairing road safety), is further travel generally prohibited?
6. When will a vehicle
   1. confiscated to preserve evidence
   2. shut down

About:

1. In the opinion of the police, does driving with a missing / manipulated emission control system pose a risk?

2. Is a vehicle with a manipulated emission control system compulsorily decommissioned and / or confiscated to preserve evidence?

3. What fine can I expect?

   - Advertising-

The official answer:

Hello Mr. Schütt,

Enclosed our general answers to your questions.

The exhaust gases of the car are no longer sufficiently filtered without a catalytic converter (or by manipulation), so that the classification in the respective exhaust gas standard (and thus in the tax class) is void and the environment is more polluted by uncleaned exhaust gases than is reasonable under the circumstances. In addition, this measure regularly increases the operating volume and the driving noise of the car. This also leads to an unacceptable (acoustic) additional burden on the environment.

In such cases, it is primarily a criminal offense according to Section 370 AO in conjunction with the Motor Vehicle Tax Act. The rule sets to be imposed for this are not known to me.

Furthermore, the offense from §19 StVZO is fulfilled here. In particular, this concerns the so-called environmental variant of the expiry of the operating license, since a deliberate change causes a worsening of the exhaust gas and noise behavior. According to the current legal situation, this violation is subject to a fine of 90 euros.

As a rule, cars on which an increased operating noise is detected are immediately presented to the expert at the time of day to carry out a court-usable sound measurement.

If the inspection takes place outside the opening hours of the technical inspection center, the car will be seized and later examined by an expert on the premises of the seizing company.

An immediate shutdown of the car (due to volume) only takes place if it (including the correction value of 5 dB) exceeds 109 dB in the official measurement. This results from the technical guidelines of the experts.

Regards

Request to the HZA Dortmund - May 12.05.2020th, XNUMX

To: presse.hza-dortmund@zoll.bund.de
Subject: Driving without a catalytic converter

Dear Ms. Münch,

Looking for answers, I called Ms. Schröder from the HZA Dortmund today. She couldn't answer my question directly and referred me to you. I am doing research for a report on the subject of “Tax evasion in the manipulation of catalytic converters?”.

Fall: XY dismantles the catalytic converters necessary for exhaust gas cleaning from his car and drives it on public roads. The vehicle has been approved according to, for example, EURO6. Dismantling the catalytic converter increases emissions and EURO 6 is no longer met - the new emission class is now 0.

XY would have to pay more vehicle tax due to the poorer emission class. According to §15 KraftStDV, XY must immediately submit a tax return to the responsible HZA. If he does not do this, this fulfills the basic offense of tax evasion according to 370 paragraph 1. 2 of the AO.

Question: Will the police report the lack of exhaust gas purification systems to you? Evaluate these cases as "Tax evasion“And pursue them accordingly?

The official answer:

Dear Mr. Schütt,

Thank you for your request, which I am happy to answer as follows:

The determinations of the registration authorities on pollutant, carbon dioxide and noise emissions, other assessment bases of a technical nature as well as the vehicle classes and body types are binding for the determination of the vehicle tax by the main customs offices according to § 2 Paragraph 2 No. 2 KraftStG.

Depending on the type of vehicle and the date of first registration, the amount of the tax is based on the following assessment bases: cubic capacity, pollutant emissions in the form of the emission classes (sometimes also noise classes), carbon dioxide emissions in the form of the type approval value and permissible total weight.

The taxation is not based on the actual emission values ​​of an individual vehicle, but on the test values ​​determined in the context of the respective traffic law approval procedure. Subsequent individual technical changes and possibly manipulations that lead to a changed emission behavior of a vehicle therefore have no direct influence on the tax set according to §§ 8 and 9 KraftStG.

The facts of a tax evasion and a frivolous tax reduction according to §§ 370, 378 AO can only exist if taxes have been reduced.
The removal of a catalytic converter or the subsequent use of public transport did not result in any higher vehicle tax. As a result, persons acting in this context cannot have committed any tax evasion or frivolous tax evasion.

Unfortunately, I cannot explain what effects the intended changes to the vehicle will have on the vehicle, particularly in the context of the vehicle registration regulation and the road traffic registration regulation. The right contact persons for this are the licensing authorities and the police stations.

With kind regards,
Im Auftrag

Judgment of the Federal Court of Justice - 23 August 2017 - - 1 StR 173/17

Motor vehicle tax evasion - through illegal car use

German Bundestag - Scientific Services - Elaboration - February 2, 2018

Questions about the interpretation of § 19 StVZO - expiry of operating license or EC type approval

Uniform federal catalog of facts

Road traffic offenses Status: 28.04.2020/13/XNUMX - XNUMXth edition

319609 They put the vehicle into operation, despite the operating permit was extinguished. The environment was significantly affected by this *).
0 points € 90,00 Section 19 (5), Section 69a StVZO; § 24 StVG; 214b.2 BKat

319621 They ordered the vehicle to be put into operation even though the operating license had expired, or they allowed it. The environment was significantly affected by this *).
0 points € 135,00 Section 19 (5), Section 69a StVZO; § 24 StVG; 189b.2 BKat

Official Journal of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure of the Federal Republic of Germany

71st volume 2017 issue 23 (1013-1088)

Addendum 29.05.2020

Due to the fact that some of them find it difficult to accept this result, we asked again at other main customs offices. The answers were

Dear Mr. Schütt,

Thank you for your interest in customs work.

However, the questions you raised were answered in detail by the main customs office in Dortmund in the middle of this month.
Unfortunately, I cannot provide any further information.

With kind regards,
Im Auftrag

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Main customs office Hamburg

Dear Mr. Schütt,

Thank you for your request.

I hereby refer to the answer from the HZA Dortmund of May 13, 2020.

With kind regards,
on behalf

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Main customs office Munich

Addendum 02.06.2020

Dear Mr. Schütt,

thank you for your inquiry to the main customs office in Berlin. You asked this question nationwide. I refer to the answer I received from the HZA Dortmund on May 13.05.2020th, XNUMX.

With kind regards,
Im Auftrag

Deputy Press officer
Recruitment

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Main customs office Berlin