What is Property Tax?
Property tax, or in its german name Grundsteuer, is a tax every property owner in Germany must pay. The tax is 0.26% of the value of the property, every year. The tax is paid on quarterly installmants, on February, May, August and November. The exact amount of tax can vary depending on the type of property, and the federal state.
What is the 2025 Reform?
For decades, property tax in Germany has been charged on the same measurement basis: the so-called standard values from 1964 (West) and 1935 (East). In its judgment on 10 April 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court rules that this process is leading to inequalities, making it unconstitutional. As a result, the legislator was obligated to reform property tax.
What do property owners need to do?
The new tax rates will only take effect in 2025. But because of the effort involved in the calculations, the tax administration must already start preparations now. Therefore property owners must submit a declaration about their properties until 31.10.2022 to help determine the new property tax value.
How do I submit a report?
First, different information about the property must be collected. These details include personal details about the owner as well as information needed to estimate the property's value, such as land area, building area, building age, type of use and the standard land value.
A report may be submitted by one of three persons:
- The property owner
- The property's authorised manager
- A certified tax advisor
The report must be submitted before 31.10.2022.
Can Betonbear help me?
Of course we can. Since the report will be used to determine tax and since it includes many specific details that are not easily available for non-german speakers, we teamed up with a certified accounting firm, Panorama Accounting, to offer our clients an exclusive price for the preperation and submission of the report:
- For a single unit reporting the fee is 300 Euros.
- For any additional unit reporting the fee is 180 Euros per unit.
Contact us at landlords@betonbear.com for more information.
Where can I learn more?
In English - City of Berlin website: https://www.berlin.de/grundsteuer/en/
In Germant - Federal Grundsteuer Reform website: https://grundsteuerreform.de/
