With the Local Tax Act (KAG), a federal state regulates how cities and municipalities can structure their revenues. This naturally also includes funeral fees.

The calculation basis may therefore be the average of the actual cost developments over the past three years and the forecasts for the next three years.

According to §8 KAG, there is both a requirement to cover costs and a prohibition on exceeding costs. In addition, only costs related to the actual service may be charged. For example, monument protection is paid for separately by the city and therefore may not be included in the fee calculation.

The following also applies to fee calculation:

• the principle of proportionality (in simple terms: only what has actually been used may be billed)
• the principle of equal treatment (same service = same fee) and
• the principle of equivalence (service and consideration must be in reasonable proportion to each other; for example, it is significantly more costly to dig a grave than to bury an urn, and this must be taken into account in the fees).

Some of the so-called 'fee-based services':

• Earth grave (burial, opening and closing of the grave)
• Urn grave (burial, opening and closing of the grave)
• Exhumation of the deceased
• Exhumation of an urn
• Reinterment of an urn
• Issuance of a grave certificate
• Transfer of a right of use
• Processing of a gravestone notification
• Clearing a grave site with/without stone edging and/or gravestone
• Extension of a chosen grave site
• Extension as a memorial grave