Entertainment tax

  • Performance specification

    Amusement tax is a municipal tax that the city of Beckum is obliged to levy.
    If you

    • in amusement arcades or similar businesses
    • or other places accessible to everyone (in particular inns, lodging establishments, club rooms and canteens).


    If you set up gambling, music, skill, entertainment or similar apparatus, this is subject to entertainment tax.

    Tax-free are:

    • Family celebrations, company parties and non-commercial events by associations
    • Events of trade unions, political parties and organisations as well as religious communities under public law and their bodies
    • Events, the proceeds of which are used exclusively and directly for charitable or non-profit purposes, if the purpose has been stated in the registration and the amount used is at least equal to the amount of the tax
    • Apparatus at fairs, funfairs and similar events
    • Machines that can only be played with replay tokens


    The person liable for the tax is the entrepreneur of the event (organiser) or the owner of the apparatus (operator). The holder must notify the City of Beckum in writing of the first installation of an apparatus prior to its installation, and of any change in the type and number of apparatuses at an installation location by the 7th working day of the following calendar month.


    Local law

    Statutes on the levying of amusement tax in the city of Beckum (amusement tax statutes) in the respective valid version.


    Legal bases in general

    • Municipal Charges Act NRW

  • Required documents

    • Amusement tax return for taxation according to the gaming stake


    The form is available for download on this website.

  • Costs

    The tax for the keeping of gaming, music, skill, entertainment or similar devices shall be calculated on the basis of the stakes in the case of devices with the possibility of winning, and on the basis of the number of devices without the possibility of winning.
    The gaming stake is the sum of the amounts spent by the players per machine to obtain the gaming pleasure.

    The tax per machine and calendar month or part thereof shall amount to

    1. in gaming halls or similar enterprises (§ 1 No. 4a) in the case of machines with the possibility of winning:
    5.5 per cent of the stakes of the gaming result; without the possibility of winning: € 35

    2. in public houses and other places (§ 1 No.
    4b) for apparatuses with the possibility of winning:
    5.5 per cent of the stakes; without the possibility of winning: € 25

    3. in gambling halls, public houses and other places for apparatuses with which
    acts of violence against humans and/or animals are depicted or which have as their object the glorification or trivialisation of war or pornographic practices and practices which violate the dignity of the
    human being: € 200.

    Personal computers that are predominantly used for individual gaming or for collective gaming in networks or on the Internet are also considered gaming devices.

  • Documents


Responsible staff