Short Answer
The Solidaritätszuschlag applies only to high income earners and capital gains tax on your investments. Most standard employees are completely exempt from this surcharge unless their single annual gross income crosses roughly 94,000 €.
What Most Expatriates Don't Realize
You assumed the solidarity tax was fully abolished for everyone and neglected to audit your stock brokerage account statements. You didn't know the state permanently retained this extra fee for investment income, which automatically added an extra 5.5% charge on top of your baseline capital gains tax rate. Your investment yields were heavily slashed, leaving you with an unexpected annual loss of 220 € in net dividend earnings.
What To Do
- Check your monthly corporate payslip for an active line item labeled "SolZ."
- Open your private stock investment portal to view the precise tax breakdown on your annual dividend statements.
- "Warum wird der Solidaritätszuschlag von meinen Kapitalerträgen abgezogen?" (Why is the solidarity surcharge being deducted from my capital gains?) — email this query to your banking provider if you notice incorrect deductions.
The Truth
Originally a temporary tax to fund German reunification in 1990, it became the tax that wouldn't die. The system only partially abolished it because the government couldn't afford to lose the revenue from the rich.