Status: 05.01.2023 07:57
The deadline for filing property tax returns is approaching. But according to a media report, more than half of the explanations are still missing in many countries – and even for the “leader” the rate is only 57 percent.
The deadline for submitting the property tax return is at the end of January – but a few weeks beforehand, many property owners have not yet submitted the return. In seven of the 16 federal states, not even half of them have done so, according to a survey by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” among the state finance ministries.
Between 40 and 57 percent
According to the newspaper, the response rate – as of Wednesday – was lowest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at around 40 percent. It is followed by Baden-Württemberg and Saarland (both 45 percent), Berlin (45.6 percent), North Rhine-Westphalia (46 percent), Brandenburg (47.5 percent) and Saxony (49 percent).
Bavaria (50.5 percent), Hesse (52.9 percent), Thuringia (53.4 percent), Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein (54 percent each), Hamburg (55 .5 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (56.3 percent). Bremen reported the highest response rate at just under 57 percent.
The “Welt am Sonntag” also reports that the rate is still low – and has not increased noticeably in the past few days. A month before the end of the first month, just under 16 million declarations had been received electronically by the tax offices, the newspaper writes, referring to the Bavarian State Office for Taxes, which is responsible for the Elster platform. There are also some declarations that were submitted in paper form. The “Welt am Sonntag” also assumes in its calculation that around half of the explanations are still missing.
“There will be no further extension of the deadline”
As part of the property tax reform, around 36 million owners of real estate and land in Germany have to submit a property tax return. The federal and state governments had already extended the deadline by three months to January 31 – initially it was until October 31.
It is unlikely that there will be a further extension – several finance ministries have categorically ruled this out. “There will be no further extension of the deadline,” Hamburg’s finance senator Andreas Dressel (SPD) told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
The owners’ association “Haus & Grund” advises “not to postpone the matter until shortly before the end of the period in order to avoid possible server overload”. Managing Director Younes Frank Ehrhardt recalled problems during data collection at the beginning of July. “In the event of non-submission or late submission of the property tax return, a late fee can be imposed,” he also warned. “If the declaration is not submitted, the tax office can also estimate the tax base.” In both cases, the obligation to submit remains.
The reform of the property tax had become necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court had declared the current assessment system to be unconstitutional in 2018 – similar properties would be treated differently, according to the reasoning. The previous calculation is based on property values that are decades old – in the west they come from 1964, in the east from 1935.