Calculate and determine wastewater charge
For the discharge of wastewater (waste water and precipitation water) into surface water or groundwater, a wastewater charge is levied in Germany on the basis of federal and supplementary state law. The waste water charge is levied by the individual Länder.
Citizens – including small dischargers – and the indirectly discharging companies pay the wastewater charge only indirectly (via the wastewater fee or via the passing on by the municipality). Only those companies that have their own wastewater treatment plant and discharge wastewater pay a wastewater levy directly to the state.
Who should I contact?
The responsibility lies with the district and the district-free city.
Competent authority
- As a rule, the lower water authorities are responsible for collecting the water abstraction fee: districts, independent and large independent cities, Hanover region
- in certain cases, the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation (NLWKN) is responsible for charging the water abstraction fee
Requirements
Anyone who discharges wastewater into a body of water is liable to pay the levy.
Which documents are required?
The required documents vary depending on the obligation to pay for dirty and/or rainwater.
Possible required documents for dirty water:
- Declaration of submission for small dischargers
- Explanation of the monitoring values
- Explanation of lower monitoring values and the resulting measurement results
- For industrial dischargers: Application for deduction of pre-load
Possible required documents for rainwater:
- Declaration of submission for rainwater
What are the fees?
For the discharge of wastewater, a levy must be paid to the respective federal state.
The amount of the levy is based on the amount of the number of harmful units (CSE) determined and the levy rate to be taken as a basis.
What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?
The tax return must be submitted by 31 March of the year following the assessment period at the latest.
Processing duration
The processing time depends on the quality and scope of the applications and documents submitted.
Applications / forms
The designation and execution of the individual forms varies from state to state. Generally speaking, there are the following declarations/forms.
- Declaration of submission for rainwater
- Declaration of submission for small dischargers
- Explanation of the monitoring values (§ 6 para. 1 AbwAG)
- Explanation of lower monitoring values (§ 4 para. 5 AbwAG)
- For industrial dischargers: Application for deduction of pre-charge (§ 4 para. 3 AbwAG)
- If necessary, link to the aforementioned forms: federal state specific
- Online procedure possible: federal state specific
Technically approved by
Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection
Author
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.