(de-news.net) – A measure aimed at cutting bureaucracy was enacted by the German Bundestag. The SPD, Greens, FDP, and Union were in favor of the bill. Its yearly savings target is around 944 million Euros for the administration and economy. Tax assessments no longer need to be requested. Instead, millions of letters may be delivered online. Digital text will supplant written form in many contexts, therefore paper papers are no longer necessary. There will be no registration required for German nationals visiting hotels. Simplifying measures will also be used by businesses, such as posting shareholder meeting resolutions online rather than through official announcements.

The decision to reduce the ten-year retention period for company documents to eight years has drawn criticism. According to the NGO Finanzwende, that element of the law may make it more difficult to look into cases of major tax evasion. Thus, after a year, organizations under BaFin oversight will be subject to the new rule.

In defense of the measure, Justice Minister Buschmann (FDP) described it as a battle against superfluous paperwork. He pointed out that EU laws are mostly responsible for the complexity. The leader of the employers’ organization, Kampeter, bemoaned the glacial pace of change and urged more immediate action.

The Federal Minister of Finance, Lindner, justified the proposed tax reliefs, saying that taxpayers ought to have advantages to the same extent as people whose social payments are adjusted for inflation. As part of a growth agenda, the suggested adjustments aim to relieve taxpayers of almost seven billion Euros in revenue by raising basic and child allowances. The Bundesrat must yet ratify the law.