BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – After numerous complaints from owners and tax consultants, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is considering extending the deadline for submitting the declaration of assessment for property tax. During a conversation with citizens on the federal government’s open day, he said on Saturday in Berlin: “I’m also worried about how things are going at the moment.” He is regularly informed about progress in data collection. “You may have to reserve the right to do something about the deadlines again,” added the FDP leader.
From 2025, a new property tax calculation is to apply. To do this, almost 36 million properties in Germany have to be revalued. This is done on the basis of information that owners now have to submit. In mid-July, technical difficulties arose with the “Elster” control platform. She was temporarily unavailable. The Federal Chamber of Tax Advisors and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce as well as some state politicians then demanded an extension of the deadline. The tax authorities have been receiving the data since July 1st. The regular deadline is October 31st.
According to a survey of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” among the federal states, only relatively few owners of private property have so far submitted their property tax returns. Depending on the country, the submission rate is slightly above or even below ten percent of the expected declarations.
According to the report, the fewest taxes have been in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with a rate of 4.2 percent. Brandenburg is 5.2 percent. Berlin comes to 6.7, Thuringia to 7.4 and Saxony to 7.6 percent. Saxony-Anhalt and Hamburg are on par with 8.9 percent. It is followed by Saarland (9.5 percent) and Baden-Württemberg (9.6 percent).
According to the information, the tax rate is only over ten percent in six countries. Hessen is the best with 13.9 percent. Lower Saxony (12.7 percent), Schleswig-Holstein (11.9 percent) and Bavaria (11.6 percent) follow. Bremen comes to 10.4 and Rhineland-Palatinate to 10.6 percent. According to the report, North Rhine-Westphalia did not provide any data.
According to “FAS”, the figures from the individual federal states are not completely comparable because some declarations on paper or property tax returns for agricultural land are included and the key dates vary slightly.
The federal states are not yet alarmed about the tax quotas: It is understandable that, in view of the summer and holiday season, many taxpayers took advantage of the deadline, the Hamburg tax authority wrote to “FAS”. Schleswig-Holstein’s finance minister Monika Heinold (Greens) told the newspaper: “Experience shows that the dynamics of filing tax returns always increase significantly when the deadlines come to an end.”
Some owners try to fill out the forms themselves online, others enlist the help of tax advisors./abc/kli/DP/mis