Anyone who wants to buy a house, a plot of land or an apartment knows it only too well: the real estate transfer tax is a big chunk of the so-called incidental acquisition costs, i.e. those costs that are incurred in addition to the actual property price. Together with the brokerage and notary costs, the real estate transfer tax eats up part of the equity of many private buyers. Depending on the federal state, between 3.5 and 6.5 percent of the purchase price are due. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) now wants to enable the federal states to deal with this type of tax more flexibly. The goal: Families and other private real estate buyers should be relieved.
This is a project from the coalition agreement. “We want to enable the federal states to make real estate transfer tax more flexible, e.g. through a tax exemption, in order to make it easier to acquire owner-occupied residential property,” it says. This is to be financed by “closing tax loopholes when corporations buy real estate”.
Lindner is now starting to implement it. In a paper from his house, which is available to the SZ, a possible model is outlined that would not require an amendment to the Basic Law. The paper states: “The federal states are given the power to introduce a reduced tax rate for direct property purchases if the purchaser of the property is one or more natural persons and the property is used for the purchaser’s or the purchaser’s own residential purposes after the purchase intended to serve the acquirer.” Translated, this means: Anyone who wants to buy a plot of land to build a house on it for themselves and their family could be relieved. Commercial investors, on the other hand, would still have to pay the full tax rate.
The federal states should be given room for manoeuvre
In addition, the federal states should be allowed to set further restrictions on who should benefit from the reduced tax rate – not only with regard to the group of entitled persons and the question of how long a property must be used by oneself, but also, for example, that the reduction only applies to the first A house is what someone buys – or only up to a certain purchase price.
The advantage of this model is mentioned in the paper that in this way the same effect can be achieved as with an exemption – namely by charging a tax rate of zero percent up to a certain assessment basis. At the same time, the federal states could adapt their regulations to the “regional characteristics of the real estate markets”.
Lindner wrote on Twitter on Friday: “More freedom for the federal states” in the design of the real estate transfer tax, that is the core of his proposal. “This is how we want to make it easier for you to get your own four walls. In view of rising interest rates, it is more than urgent to relieve equity.”