Tax affair – Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund-Spitzer resigns

The pressure increased and on Friday afternoon the time had finally come: Director of the Business Association Jürgen Kessler and the President of the Business Association Hans-Peter Metzler resigned their positions. “To return to objectivity and draw attention to the challenges required for the location,” they say in a broadcast that they are taking on political responsibility.

“room for speculation”
The media coverage of the tax treatment of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund “provoked a number of irritations and has left room for speculation and misinterpretation in the public”. The long-standing tax adviser of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund has consistently taken the view that the activities of the Wirtschaftsbund should be subsumed under the usual party activities and therefore no sales tax or corporate income tax should be paid. “If the tax authorities deviate from this assessment, the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund will of course take this into account after the tax audit procedure has been completed,” said Metzler and Kessler.

“Meets legal requirements”
They also denied that they had behaved in accordance with association law. In accordance with the statutes, general meetings were held at regular intervals, decisions were taken, officials and employees were relieved and the association authorities were informed. “As a sub-organization of the Vorarlberg People’s Party, we support the party substantively and financially. In this regard, we would like to emphasize clearly that the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund has complied with the legal regulations, in particular with all the financial support provided to the state party,” Metzler continued. and Kessler.

Metzler will also resign from his position as chairman of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce and ensure an orderly transfer.