Price indications "incl. VAT" not always accurate and potentially misleading

The Price Indication Ordinance (PAngV) sets various requirements for price indications by commercial traders. In particular, the final price including all price components must be stated, which also includes sales tax (§ 1 Abs. 1 PAngV). According to the law, it must always be stated without exception that sales tax is included, though this is not correct in some cases.

The PAngV applies to all traders who offer goods or services (also) to end consumers. In distance selling law, that is, above all in online shops and on other sales platforms (e.g. eBay) as well as price comparison pages / price search engines, an explicit indication is furthermore required that the requested sales tax is included in the requested price (§ 1 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 PAngV), which is customarily done by adding "incl. VAT". The aim is to assure the customer that he is indeed dealing with the final price and that no further costs will be incurred. However, the indication – although unconditionally required by the legislator – is not always correct and can, in extreme cases, result in a competition law warning for misleading advertising.