Tronc
The Tronc ( French : offering stock ) is the name of the tip box in roulette . The content of the Tronc is divided among the employees of the casino in addition to their comparatively low basic salary according to a point system that depends on function and seniority.
Historical
The organized game, regulated by commercial gaming operators, as it is operated in casinos up to the present, has existed in Germany since the beginning of the 19th century . Even in the early gaming venues, it was customary to give the organizing "game editors" a small part of the winnings. At the time, it may have been only a few percent of the profit that the "gentlemen", who could afford to put their money on the gaming tables, allowed the gamblers - for the circumstances at the time, from which lackeys (now pages ) and game makers (today croupiers ), they earned a fortune, because in the gambling houses of that time people already played for enormous amounts of money, which is derived solely from the fact that the coins that were played with at the time (because chips were still there in the beginning not), made of solid precious metal . The phrase “A piece for the employees!”, Which has survived to this day, comes from this time .
The coins of winning guests withheld by the servants were kept in a metal container, the "can", for later sharing. The older generation of players can still remember today that they announced their wish to tip the employees with the advertisement “Money for the can!” .
With the opening of the first grand casino by the Blanc brothers in the glamorous spa town of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , a tinny box and the name “can” no longer seemed appropriate. In the luxurious ambience of the first casino in today's sense, lockable containers were worked into the gaming tables and the French Blanc jokingly gave it the name sacrificial stock. The term Tronc and the personal cash register under the table tops incorporated into the casino furniture have survived to this day, even if the Tronc is no longer filled with precious metal coins.
Function of the tronc
Pay system for the staff
In Germany, most of the employees of almost all casinos are paid through a system that is unique of its kind: from the technical director to the croupiers to the cashier, the employees of the house are paid from the Tronc.
The French name is correct, the term “tip fund” is confusing - it suggests that the percentage of their income given by winning guests is an additional salary for the employees in addition to their fixed wages. This conclusion is wrong, since most German houses do not pay a salary. The income from the Tronc is the only income for the staff; the employer is released from the obligation to pay employees.
The gaming operator, often a state bank or lottery company as the concession holder , is only responsible for managing the income in the Tronc and distributing it to the employees, not for paying wages. Only in the event that the Tronc can no longer cover the collectively agreed minimum wages, the casinos are now obliged, according to a court decision following an employee strike at a casino chain, to top up the Tronc up to the amount that guarantees all employees at least the collectively agreed minimum wages . If the Tronc is higher than the guaranteed Tronc sum again in the following months, the Tronc will be withdrawn from the advance amount. Such a regulation had become necessary because employees of the casino concerned had submitted applications for supplementary social assistance without being terminated ; their monthly payment during the off-season was not sufficient to meet basic needs.
When entering a casino, the guest is only subliminally aware of his role of acting as an “employer” of the employees. Only when he knows that the people who serve him are largely dependent on the Tronc content does he have to understand why casino employees wait for a fee for every service.
Tax assessment
With regard to the taxation of Tronc income, proceedings were pending at the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) regarding the question of whether this wage should be viewed by the guests as tax-free tips. The question is described on the BFH website as follows:
- "Are remuneration that a cashier in the slot machine area of a casino operated by a federal state receives proportionately from the Tronc revenue to which the casino is entitled, according to Section 3 No. 51 EStG as 'tips' tax-free or taxable wages because the employee against his employer according to the Collective agreement has a specifically enforceable legal claim (also in the event of illness) to payment of his share of the tip as a variable salary component? If there is no 'voluntary payment by a third party on the occasion of a work performance', if the visitors to the casino give their tip in the form of tokens in the containers set up for this purpose, because the employees according to § 11 para. 1 of the SpBG accept Tips and gifts are strictly forbidden and the employer is legally allowed to use the income to cover staff costs? "
After the decision made on December 18, 2008, taxes must now be paid on gifts from players. Reasons are that it cannot be a tip , as croupiers are not allowed to take such and that the Tronc is paid out by the employer.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ BAG, decision of August 14, 2002, Az. 7 ABR 29/07 , under II. 1. a) aa) of the reasons
- ↑ BFH judgment of December 18, 2008, Az. VI R 49/06
- ↑ - Approval by FG - Appellant: Taxpayer, EStG § 3 No. 51; EStG § 19 Abs. 1 Nr. 1, proceeding: Finanzgericht Berlin, decision of June 12, 2006 (9 K 9093/06)
- ↑ Press release No. 4/09 of the Federal Fiscal Court of January 21, 2009
- ↑ Focus report
