Umsatzsteuer runs in two directions. A business charges it on what it sells and reclaims it on what it buys, and the tax it reclaims is the Vorsteuer. That mechanism only works cleanly when everything the business does carries the tax. Where part of the turnover carries Umsatzsteuer and part of it does not, the input tax on anything used for both purposes cannot simply be reclaimed in full, and it cannot simply be dropped either. It has to be divided, and that division is the Vorsteueraufteilung.
A pharmacy sits in that mixed position already in ordinary trading, and a new service can widen it. A draw offered as an apothekenübliche Dienstleistung, an appointment billed as Privatliquidation, and the medicines on the shelf do not automatically share one treatment. Two further problems then stack on top. The first is that the method of division is itself contested rather than a settled formula waiting to be applied, and which key is appropriate is argued about between advisers, tax offices and courts. The second is more practical. If the Umsatzsteuer treatment of the service is unclear, the input tax on the equipment bought for that service is unclear by exactly the same amount, because those are the same question seen from opposite ends.
This is why the timing matters more than the arithmetic. A centrifuge, a measuring device, the fitting out of a consultation room and the consumables that go with them are all bought before there is any turnover to test a treatment against. The paperwork that follows is where the position quietly sets, so how the Rechnungsstellung an Selbstzahler is organised and how the purchase invoices are recorded matter from the first day rather than from the first audit. The same structural facts drive the neighbouring Gewerbesteuer question, which is a reason to put both on the table in one conversation.
No percentage and no key belongs in a glossary entry, and anyone offering a rule of thumb for this is describing their own client rather than yours. Which turnover is treated how, and which method of division holds for a given house, depends on the mix of services and on the pharmacy's existing treatment and belongs with your Steuerberater before the equipment is ordered.
This glossary entry is general information about German pharmacy law and practice. It is not legal advice. For binding guidance on your own pharmacy, contact your Landesapothekerkammer.
