In the struggle to recalculate property tax, 97 percent of owners in Bavaria ultimately submitted their declaration. This number was given by the Bavarian State Tax Office, as reported by the Bayern media group. The deadlines for submitting property tax returns have been extended several times in Bavaria.
The tax offices have already sent out most of the notices, the office said. If citizens notice on their tax office notice that they should pay significantly more property tax, the municipalities would next have to react and discuss a possible adjustment of the assessment rate. “According to the declared political will of the Bavarian state government, a municipality’s property tax revenue should not be higher after the reform than before,” said the authority spokeswoman. However, the determination of the assessment rate remains a free decision of the municipalities. “The property tax law specifies neither a minimum nor a maximum percentage for the assessment rate.” The property tax reform has not changed this, said the spokeswoman for the state office.
From 2025 onwards, property tax in Bavaria will be calculated on a new assessment basis. The background is a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court, according to which the current assessment basis in Germany is unconstitutional. In Bavaria, the new calculation is based on its own model because the state government found the federal model “too bureaucratic”. While the federal model is intended to determine the value of the property based on information such as the year of construction and the standard land value, a pure area model is implemented in Bavaria. In the future, the revenue from property tax will remain solely with the municipalities.