Hopefully you have already submitted your property tax return, because January 31st was the deadline day. Then the assessment declaration for the property tax had to be received by the respective tax office.
In a few weeks, the notifications about the property tax value and the property tax amount will be returned. The latter multiplied by the property tax rate of the city or municipality results in the property tax to be paid from 2025. Attention: The rates of assessment are likely to change.
But why bother at all? The Federal Constitutional Court has declared the previous assessment method to be incompatible with the general principle of equality and called for a reform of the property tax that better reflects the actual value of the property. And this is where the land and property owners came in.
Property tax returns – a good third is still missing
While at the beginning of January almost half of all property owners had submitted their property tax returns, Berlin and Bavaria reported shortly before the deadline: almost two thirds of the property tax returns were there.
This is how it works with the property tax return
With the WISO tax program, the property tax declaration can now be made in no time at all. About FOCUS online you get the tax software for exclusive special price of only 26.99 euros. Normal price is 29.99 euros.
The submission deadline was originally set for the end of October 2022, only to be extended to the end of January 2023. “A further extension of the deadline is currently not planned,” said a spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of Finance.
We asked FOCUS online users to send us their experiences with the new property tax – and they were mixed.
The biggest problems with property tax were with the assessment declaration
A reader from Hesse wrote to us about the submission: “I requested the form because I’m 81 years old and can’t get along with the PC. When I looked at the forms, I was shocked. Everything is incomprehensible to me. In addition, nothing has changed in my circumstances. (…) I have tried to find help, but all in vain. Now I’m standing there, the graduation date is approaching, I don’t know what to do.”
Another said: “In order to be able to make the required declaration with Elster, you have to be a real estate agent and tax consultant or tax officer. The explanations are so contradictory and confusing that it takes a lot of luck to submit the property tax return. In doing so, I gradually clicked on all the options in the various queries in order to determine the right option after checking the program itself. A single catastrophe.”
One reader reported: “Can’t do it, even with the help of my kids. Will go to the tax office on Monday and wait for help and if I have to get stuck.”
property tax return? For some homeowners “absolute laughter”
But there are also other voices, like this one: “I was in a panic about the creation of the property tax. But now I have to say that it was an absolute laughing stock. You just have to have the land register extract. Duration including delivery less than 30 minutes.”
Or: “I used my mobile phone to enter the details for the property tax reform when I first started. As a person who is not very talented in such things, I initially registered with Elster relatively easily and then entered the declaration for the property tax. Some error messages were displayed to me, but they were fixed by simply trying them out and naively. After a total of about an hour I was through with all that nonsense.
Property Tax – The Big Guide – PDF
The reform for the new property tax is complex – and this year it will require owners. You have to submit some data to the tax office. You have to be very precise and observe special deadlines. In our large guide you will find all the information you need to know in a compact form.
My recommendation: Don’t get bogged down when entering and fix the numerous error messages with gallows humor. You only have to get involved with the intellectual level of the cause of this less customer-friendly and typically ‘official’ input mask, then it’s even fun. It’s a kind of computer game and when you solve it, the sun shines (pure happiness).
(…) The processing time for my information was very short and the newly determined tax payments are within the range of the previous assessment. So what, don’t worry, be happy!”
Readers report an increase in the amount of property tax
The owner of a condominium from Leipzig is not at all satisfied: “The previous, current measurement amount for my EW is 16.36 euros, the assessment rate is 650 percent. This means that my annual property tax for the condominium is 106.34 euros. This is appropriate and was planned for before purchasing the EW. (…)
The letter from the Leipzig tax office now tells me a new tax amount of 64.43 euros. Assuming the previous assessment rate of 650 percent, this results in an expected property tax of EUR 418.795. So four times or 400 percent increase, without us as owners, who also live in the apartment, having any added value. Buying this apartment in 2008 was supposed to support my retirement plan but now seems to be turning out to be a source of money for the authorities. (…)”
Panic caused by enormous increase: “Property tax so far 104 euros, from 2025: 1300 euros”
Another email said: “My parents, 63 and 60 years old, inherited a dilapidated old house from their grandmother three years ago. Built in 1910… without a foundation, built on sand, everything dilapidated (pipes, roof, etc.). The house is no longer habitable and has no functioning heating system. Demolition makes sense, but currently too expensive (over €35,000, they don’t have the money). So leave it there for the time being, until maybe we children can finance a new building at some point.
GSt.Bescheid and measurement notice already received. Property tax so far: 104 euros per year according to the notification. From 2025: 1300 euros per year. We have now lodged an objection and applied for the proceedings to be suspended.”
A user from Baden-Württemberg said: “My annual property tax will increase from €158.84 to €660.94 in the future. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, I lodged an objection.”
“Instead of a vacation in 2025, it’s time to spend the summer in your own expensive garden”
A reader from Bad Schönborn, also in Baden-Württemberg, reported: “Four days ago, property tax assessment notices and property tax value notices for the two properties that my husband owns arrived. Our own home is on one of the lots, the other is a building lot (currently a garden). We knew that the reform would hit us as both plots (inherited from grandfather) include a total size of 2800 square meters.
So far, we have been paying an annual property tax of around 240 euros for both of them, with a community assessment rate of 330 percent. In the future from 2025 we should pay 4324.65 euros annually with the same assessment rate. Today I filed an objection against the decisions and hope for a good outcome of the class action lawsuit in Baden-Württemberg.
Instead of vacation 2025, it’s time to spend the summer in your own expensive garden. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with revenue-neutral and proportionality.”
Property tax return can also end well
But there are also examples where the property tax reform could even lead to a reduction, provided the property tax rate remains untouched: “I live in Gelsenkirchen (…), we have a small mid-terrace house with 300 square meters of land. I did the property tax return very early last year, I found it very easy. The tax assessment has also been there for a long time, from 2025 we will pay 30 euros less per year. I see that as a positive example that things can be done differently.”
And a tax consultant from North Rhine-Westphalia also emphasized to FOCUS online: “The results of the property tax assessments lead to about the same burdens as before – at most to moderate increases in individual cases.”
Make a property tax return yourself (display)
The property tax return must be submitted by January 31, 2023: With the “GrundsteuerErklärung” software from Steuertipps.de, you can master the task yourself in no time at all.
