Rubik obviously speaks from experience and is right in the main, however there are two issues here - the changed tax situation, and the lack of information given to staff by easyJet.
Firstly as Saabdriver says, the Finanzampt acknowledged the loophole and issued zero returns until now... but from 1 Jan 07, unknown to staff, we have been operating under a changed tax scheme. I fear screaming about it will achieve very little. So we are now into a tax mitigation situation, and each person will have to look at the best way of legally reducing his/her tax bill from 01 Jan. It is not straight forward in many cases and will need good professional advice to optimise the situation in my opinion.
Regarding easyJet deliberately withholding information from staff, it is at best immoral, possibly illegal. I feel that advice should be taken as to whether they had any legal obligation to inform staff of the changed circumstance which they obviously knew about. Indeed they encouraged staff to use the S690 scheme this year without any warnings. Any legal types out there wish to give informed comment on this point?
The reality is that there are many people who are now facing large bills and can't see how to pay them. It's not just the pilots who arguably may have more disposable income!
