The tax investigators in Schleswig-Holstein are checking fewer and fewer potential tax evaders. This emerges from answers from the Ministry of Finance to inquiries from SPD financial politician Beate Raudies.
While the tax investigators inspected 788 large companies in 2024, last year there were only 636. The inspection rate fell from 22.95 to 18.53 percent. 643 medium-sized companies received a visit from the tax office last year, and in 2024 there were 1,191. Here too, the inspection rate fell: from 17.67 to 9.54 percent.
Demands more investigators: Beate Raudies.
Photo: Michael Staudt
Raudies finds the numbers “alarming.” According to Michael Jasper, chairman of the German Tax Union Schleswig-Holstein, of the 107.6 investigator positions in the state, only 82.9 are occupied, i.e. around a third are vacant. “The retirements will be compensated for and I am cautiously optimistic and hope that we can close the gap in the coming years.” All positions in the internal service are filled anyway.
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The letter from the ministry shows the significant additional income that tax audits bring with them. “In large companies alone, additional income in the three-digit million range was recorded in 2025,” says Raudies.
Fewer tax audits, but significantly more income
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Because the investigators are becoming more effective. In 2025 they collected more than 580 million euros from large companies and around 29 million from medium-sized companies. In 2024 there were only a good 82 million euros for large companies and also around 29 million euros for medium-sized ones. “This can sometimes be related to a particularly large case,” says Jasper. This is due to a few individual audits that were based on specific audit findings,” the ministry says.
The opposition demands that the finance minister should fill positions
“Every auditor generates a multiple of their own salary as income,” says Raudies. Strengthening revenue management is therefore essential, especially in times of tight budgets. The government cannot continue to leave money lying around that is urgently needed for education, infrastructure or municipalities. However, the investigators also collect taxes for the federal and local governments. “The majority of the revenue doesn’t stay with the country,” says Jasper. That’s why new positions for tax investigators are only financially worthwhile for the country to a limited extent.
Procedures are becoming more complex
“In principle, we have managed to keep staffing stable in the tax audit despite the increasingly difficult staffing situation in recent years,” says Finance Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Mansfeld. The decline in audits is therefore not due to fewer examiners, “but primarily to an average longer duration of audits. This in turn is a trend that can be observed nationwide and results from the increasing complexity of cases and an increasingly risk-oriented case selection.”
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Raudies still says: “Schleswig-Holstein needs better staffed tax administrations and a significantly higher level of audits. The finance minister must finally do her homework.”
The Ministry of Finance wants to attract new employees
She explains that training positions in financial administration have almost doubled since 2017. Because of the special tasks, precise knowledge and extensive training and further education are a prerequisite for the job. “Employees with these professional qualifications are practically not available on the regular labor market, so that personnel for the tax audit must be recruited through the general recruitment of young talent in the tax administration and subsequent qualification,” says Mansfeld. Employees would have a flexible and secure job with attractive offers such as job tickets, company fitness, bicycle leasing and continuous training.
So yes: more tests by more investigators
Jasper and Mansfeld also hope to attract more applicants through special advertising campaigns. “It should be noted, however, that the number of audits increases with every auditor,” says Mansfeld. “In addition to the additional taxes identified, this also has a preventative effect and thus contributes to greater tax fairness. The goal therefore remains to employ more staff in tax audits in the future.”
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The SPD also demands this. Regular and effective controls are also a question of justice. Honest taxpayers should be able to rely on the fact that tax fraud will be consistently prosecuted and will not ultimately be worth it. Raudies: “The honest person must not be the stupid one.”
