What’s new in politics, social and finance in 2026

Last Updated on March 5, 2026

This time in December it was very difficult to understand what to expect next year at all. There are a lot of discussions, many plans that have not yet been adopted – sometimes they are presented as something already one hundred percent certain, but in reality the laws have not yet been passed. Right now there is another such feature – the cancellation of overly green (both in the sense of party affiliation and in the sense of unrealistic and premature) restrictions on heating systems. But the law, again, has not yet been adopted.

All texts are my own, not generated!

All tax-related topics: #Tax return in Germany
All topics on society and politics

What we will get

Let’s start with something pleasant – indexation to inflation

Kindergeld has increased to the strange sum of 259 euros – a whole 4 euros more.

The tax-free minimum is being raised to 12,348 euros.

The minimum wage is being increased to 13.90 euros per hour. Accordingly, related figures will also increase – the mini-job threshold (to 603 euros) and the threshold for losing family insurance coverage.

Compensation for commuting to work and similar reimbursements will be calculated at 38 cents from the first kilometer.

The Übungsleiterpauschale will be 3,300 euros.
The Ehrenamtpauschale – 960 euros.

And what is this?

The Düsseldorfer Tabelle, which determines the amount of child maintenance payments, has also been adjusted for inflation.

The Gasspeicherumlage is being abolished

This means that gas will be cheaper, but it does not mean that the discount will reach the end consumer. At the same time, grid maintenance fees have increased, as has the CO₂ tax.

Reduction of Netzentgelte

Electricity grid fees have become lower, which means that theoretically the price of electricity will decrease. In practice, this depends on exactly where you live. It makes sense to check prices a couple of times a year.

Reduction of tax for gastronomy

Cafés and restaurants can once again enjoy the reduced tax rate from 17 to 9 percent. Since the sector suffered greatly during the lockdowns and from expensive electricity, this reduction is unlikely to reach customers immediately – first they have to compensate for their own suffering, and only then will they be kind enough to compensate ours.

State support for electric cars

Support will be provided to those who purchased new electric cars from the beginning of the year, but retroactively – from late spring. The support applies both to purchases and to leasing. In addition to purely electric cars, plug-in hybrids will also be subsidized.

Support is limited by your family income, which must be up to 80,000 euros per year according to the latest tax return (if there was none, you will need to file retroactively – you can already start if you are planning a purchase). For each child, 5,000 is added to this threshold, but only up to 90,000 euros.

We are talking about “versteuerndes Einkommen” – that is, not the gross income.

Where to find the versteuerndes Einkommen in the confirmation from the tax office.

The amount of the bonus depends both on the type of car being purchased and on the number of children, but more than two children are not taken into account, which is somewhat illogical: families with two children receive the maximum benefit – they buy a regular-sized car but receive the highest bonus. Families with three children, however, have to buy a ship on wheels, which is significantly more expensive, yet the bonus is the same.

Organizations purchasing electric cars for their business have received “turbo depreciation,” under which 75 percent can be written off in the first year, with the remainder over the following five years.

The support is planned until 2029; however, the amount of money is limited and is expected to be sufficient for approximately 800,000 cars.

What do they owe us?

Salary transparency

Europe wants salary transparency, without any of that “You are not allowed to talk about your salary.” However, this applies only to larger organizations. They will have to publish data on salary ranges and be more specific about pay when hiring employees.

The right to after-school care

Children starting first grade in the autumn are entitled to after-school care for 8 hours, 5 days a week, and for most of the school holidays.

I attended a meeting on this topic. And here is what it looks like in Baden-Württemberg (local differences are possible):

• first time cluster – from 7:00 to 13:30
• second time cluster – from 13:30 to 17:00

In advance (in February), you can sign up for the first cluster or for both the first and second together, as well as for a flexible scheme (5.50 euros for the first cluster and 15 euros for both the first and second per day). The flexible scheme may not be available in your town.

The subscription price depends on the number of children in the family receiving Kindergeld. Cancellation is possible by semester. Holiday care is also available either for half a day or a full day. The summer holidays are covered halfway.

The difference from the full-day program as we had it before:

• in the full-day program, teachers worked there; here, different staff members work, not necessarily with a pedagogical education
• homework is also done with supervisors, but not with teachers
• the full-day program included various activities such as circus courses, art, drumming, etc. – exclusively for full-day children. In after-school care, nothing of that kind is promised, and whether there will be AGs is still unclear
• in the full-day program, picking up a child early was difficult – you had to request permission in advance, and it was not encouraged. From after-school care, it is much easier to pick up a child
• and, of course, the obvious difference – after-school care must be paid for

For children in grades 2–4, everything remains as before: confirmation that both parents are working is required. The innovation applies only to future first graders and all those who start in the coming years.

Widerruf button

Starting in June, all online services and shops must activate for customers the option to cancel an order within 14 days. This applies to both goods and services.

The button must be easy to find and obvious. This is already the second button – the first was “terminate contract” (Kündigung), which was introduced somewhat earlier.

Other improvements in consumers’ lives

Advertising with claims of special environmental friendliness is being restricted – the manufacturer must specify what exactly makes the product particularly environmentally friendly, or refrain from making such claims. Add to this the recent court decision in the case against Lidl – advertising cheapness of products without specific details is also prohibited.

Keeping hens in cages in Germany is prohibited from 2026 – news that somewhat surprised me, since eggs from hens kept this way have been banned and absent from stores for many years already. Apparently, the ban had not been complete. However, even now it leaves loopholes – eggs from foreign producers using cage systems may still be used.

The maximum content of vitamins D, A, iron, and certain other substances (for example, selenium) in supplements is now legally limited. Previously, there were only recommended limits.

Honey and jam must have more detailed information about their origin.

Certain substances harmful to consumers, in particular PFAS, are restricted or banned.

Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants must present their heating supply plans by mid-year. From these, you can find out whether district heating is planned in your city and what restrictions exist. Smaller cities will have to wait until 2028.

By autumn, a regulation is expected to come into force that ensures the possibility of repairing devices for 5–10 years after the expiration of the warranty. Manufacturers must make such repairs possible and guarantee the availability of spare parts.

Electronic medical records

From October, medical data has finally been digitized – not even ten years have passed. However, if you think that you will now simply install an app on your phone and see everything, you are mistaken. You must obtain one access code – this is the first barrier, and it only shows a small portion of the data. Then there is another application, verification of your identity, another code sent by post with presentation of your passport to a postman. Several weeks (or months), passwords, and codes later, you will finally reach your electronic records. Access to your money is easier than access to a note about your cold. The most interesting part is that once you open this tin can, access to your data will be fairly simple if someone steals your phone and your passwords are saved in it.

And children must be connected separately. Moreover, if the insurance is under the spouse, only that spouse can connect them. And for this, in TK, for example, you have to go to the office in person. Older teenagers from the age of 15, it seems, install their own applications.

Warning about AI content

Starting in August, consumers of media content must be warned about the use of artificial intelligence. I have only one question about this wonderful news – why starting in August, why couldn’t it be done immediately? It’s not as if this requires any special preparation.

Let’s save the German employer from the labor shortage!

Countless measures to eliminate the mythical labor shortage are endlessly discussed and proposed in every possible way. Meanwhile, unemployment has risen again and the index of possible new employment has fallen to extreme levels, proving that the “labor shortage” is a fairy tale lie.

If German employers need anyone at all, it is only a perfectly matching candidate with one hundred percent fit and no need for training. Maybe. Or maybe not. No, over 45 years old is not acceptable. No, your place of birth is unsuitable. No, you changed jobs too often (nonsense that the companies went bankrupt). No, you don’t speak three foreign languages fluently, even though our company is purely German. And in general, your soft skills are somehow wrong, our AI doesn’t like you. You have to be a fairy-tale unicorn whose résumé contains exactly what we need (followed by a very narrow specialization) for us to take any interest in you at all.

Those who are unemployed now are not unqualified people at all, but many with engineering degrees. No one is rushing to retrain them for specific positions, no one is even offering training in professions where the labor shortage is supposedly burning bright. The only unequivocal option is nursing care (Pflege).

Which of these numerous proposals to rescue employers is already in force?

Pensioners may earn up to 2,000 euros tax-free in addition to their pension (Aktivrente). Exceptions – civil servants (Beamte), mini-jobbers, freelancers, and the self-employed. The baby boomers with pleasant, undemanding office professions have tailored this to suit themselves. The unfortunate people on the labor market do not need to worry about these vacancies.

What will be taken from us

The Deutschland-Ticket will cost 63 euros. Overall, local transport has become more expensive again, and significantly so.

Passport renewals have become much more expensive.

Zusatzbeträge in state health insurance company (Krankenkasse, KK) will rise. Pay attention to this, because the difference between companies, depending on your salary, can reach up to 600 euros, and bonuses are often purely nominal (read the conditions in full!). Only very specific and individual needs are actually covered by bonuses in some KK and not in others. The most relevant and frequently requested are IVF and homeopathy. Everything else is roughly the same across all KK.

What Zusatzbeträge are and how to change your health insurance company.

Social security contributions deducted from salaries have also increased.

The CO₂ price has risen again, which means higher fuel prices and everything connected with it – in short, everything.

Car insurance sums will increase again (how much more could they possibly go up?) due to the high cost of repairs.

What else we owe

The next phase of driver’s license replacement

Licenses issued between 2002 and 2004 must be replaced by January 19, 2027.

Ban on lead pipes in the water supply system

This ban concerns property owners, mainly of buildings constructed before 1973. But the information is also important for tenants. If you rent an apartment in an old building, you can require the owner to conduct a lead test, and if the result is positive, they are obliged to replace the pipes. It makes sense to check whether there are any free testing offers in your region.

New military obligation

Children born in 2008 and later must get used to the idea of military service. Those born in 2008 are supposed to receive some kind of questionnaire. We have not received it yet. Perhaps it is tied to the month of birth.

Digital tax confirmation

If you do not like the idea of receiving tax confirmation from the tax office in PDF form, you must state your objection, because everyone is being automatically switched from paper to electronic format.

Laughing gas banned from free sale

I didn’t even know that someone had thought of allowing it to be sold freely. Very welcome, especially considering how much the city has smelled of marijuana since its legalization.

A rightward turn regarding foreigners

The liberal provisions of the citizenship law were curtailed at the end of 2025, shortening the possibility of obtaining citizenship after 3 years – an option that perhaps a hundred people per year had.

The refugee law has been amended in accordance with European legislation. The innovations mainly concern the possibility of restricting the freedom of movement of refugees.

European trifles

In Bulgaria, the euro has been introduced.

For travel to the United Kingdom, you must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) and, of course, pay for it – about 19 euros. Without an ETA, the airline will not let you board.

Deterioration for air passengers: the European Union plans to increase the delay threshold from which airlines must pay compensation.

Austria has introduced a ban on entering inner city zones. Monitoring is carried out through cameras, and in case of violation you will face a large fine. Let us hope that the signs will be clearer than in Italy, where these restricted zones are used to collect money from foreigners.
The ban on bypassing autobahns continues to apply from April to early November.
2026 is the last year when you can use a paper vignette. From 2027 onward, they will be completely replaced by digital vignettes. Be careful – long-term digital vignettes (2 months or more) cannot be purchased at the last minute; they do not become valid immediately.

Grand plans

The much-hated (by centrists) Bürgergeld will be replaced with Grundsicherung. Along the way, training and retraining programs will be cut in various ways, thereby saving funds on renaming the benefit in all the paperwork. In other words, the above-mentioned engineering specialists in their thousands will all go off to mop floors, since retraining is being curtailed, and refusing a job will mean losing the benefit.
I would note that the myth that you must be offered only a job at your level and with your previous salary is just that – a myth. This obligation on the part of the employment office already ends very quickly even now, without any reform.
The restrictions also include a limit on allowable savings – it will be individual and will depend on work history and age.
On the positive side, there will be a higher limit for permissible additional earnings.
It is expected that the law will be passed in the spring and that the reform will begin on July 1.

To save the pension system from a shrinking workforce combined with a growing number of pensioners, they plan to introduce a Frühstartrente – money will be credited to children into special accounts from an early age. As every year before, they also intend to make the rules less bureaucratic and more flexible.

They intend to make obtaining a driver’s license cheaper. For now, this is very much in question.

All tax-related topics: #Tax return in Germany
All topics on society and politics