Enlarge image
Single-family houses in Saxony
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
For years I was of the opinion: It is better if the state demands its part when buying property than just brokers to hold out their hands.
And that's why I found the real estate transfer tax appropriate.
But now it is noticeable that the state collects mainly from the small ones, it leaves the big ones unscathed.
This is downright absurd when you see how the state is trying to help families buy their own home with billions for child building benefits.
Land transfer tax for the masses
For decades, anyone who buys a property has had to pay the tax to the federal states.
Since 2006 they have been able to determine the amount themselves - and have increased the tax rates more than two dozen times since then.
They earned a good 16 billion euros last year alone.
An example: Anyone who buys a house or apartment in Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia or Saarland for 300,000 euros pays 19,500 euros in real estate transfer tax - almost twice as much as 15 years ago.
No tax for the housing groups
Annoying on the other hand: Real estate companies pay nothing all these years. At least if they are big and clever enough as a corporation. If the seller is a company that owns real estate and the buyer purchases less than 95 percent of the shares in this company, he did not have to pay real estate transfer tax. Virtually all of the privatization of public housing in recent years has gone like this - and has saved the buying corporations billions in taxes.
The law was amended in July, but the loophole was only slightly reduced. The limit is now 90 instead of 95 percent. The tax loophole is called “share deals”. In Frankfurt am Main, Allianz recently acquired the most expensive high-rise building in the republic with a partner as a "share deal" for more than 1.4 billion euros. The Sony Center in Berlin and the Eurotower in Frankfurt am Main, where the European Central Bank (ECB) once sat, have also been sold by the tax office in recent years.
The savings are huge.
Vonovia, the largest German real estate company, expects tax savings of around one billion euros with the planned acquisition of competitor Deutsche Wohnen.
That is about as much as the state of Berlin collected in taxes on all classic property purchases in 2020, and half as much as in Bavaria.
Incidentally, income from real estate transfer tax plays a particularly important role in the Berlin budget.
The right campaign topic
Against this background, it is particularly illogical that the state on the one hand collects real estate transfer tax from private house builders and buyers and at the same time supports young families with billions in construction child benefit.
Almost all parties currently see it that way in the election campaign.
Depending on the orientation, some suggest plugging the tax loophole (SPD), others want above all to exempt traditional home buyers from real estate transfer tax (Union and FDP).
The Greens want to enable the federal states to lower taxes for owner-occupiers.
On the surface, most of the parties could possibly even agree on a combination of both: less land transfer taxes, restriction of "share deals".
Even the FDP is in favor of plugging the loophole.
How long until the reform?
In view of the great pressure on the subject of housing, it may well be that the real estate transfer tax will be tightened again after the election.
But that will probably not happen quickly.
The current revision of the tax from July 2021 (ie a few difficulties for tax-saving share deals) lasted three years with the grand coalition.
The Union has successfully harnessed the corporate lobby for itself.
And the new version of the law from July will still not prevent Vonovia from saving the billion if it soon buys Deutsche Wohnen.
Tips instead of waiting
So now and here are all the tips from my »Finanztip« colleagues on what you can do yourself to keep your tax as low as possible:
Buy the property first.
And don't build the house until later.
Then you only have to pay the real estate transfer tax for the purchase of the property.
If the property costs 100,000 euros and the house on it costs 250,000 euros, you save around 70 percent of the tax.
In NRW, for example, you only pay 6,500 euros instead of 22,750 euros.
Both contracts must, however, be separated in terms of time and content.
So don't buy the property from the developer - and then the house too.
Even better: get the property as a gift.
If your parents or grandparents give away a piece of property to you as a son, daughter, grandchild or granddaughter, no real estate transfer tax is due.
And inheritance or gift tax only sometimes.
The model is quite popular in the country.
The purchase from the in-laws or the purchase from the ex as part of a divorce is also tax-favored, there is no real estate transfer tax due.
If the neighbor who sells the house retains the right to live in the granny flat or if you take on debts in addition to the house, this reduces the assessment basis for the tax and you pay less.
According to the law, you do not have to bear the real estate transfer tax alone, the tax authorities are just as happy if the seller pays half of it.
Unless you agree otherwise in the notarial contract.
Usually it is regulated there that the buyer pays the real estate transfer tax alone.
Sometimes there is also an option: Buy your house or property a few kilometers away. If you buy your property in the Bavarian town of Mellrichstadt for 200,000 euros, you have to pay 7,000 euros in real estate transfer tax. A few kilometers further in Meiningen, Thuringia, you would have to shell out 13,000 euros in real estate transfer tax for the same purchase price.
If you have to buy an apartment or house with land together, limit yourself to the bare house.
If in doubt, purchase a fitted kitchen, sauna, solar system or other furnishings separately.
This is also a tip when buying a used property.
Because you only have to pay the tax for property, house and all things inextricably linked with it.
50,000 euros of equipment bought separately save 3000 euros in taxes in Berlin or Hesse, and even 3,250 euros in Brandenburg or North Rhine-Westphalia.
Incidentally, notaries and tax offices are prepared for such constructions.
Experience has shown that 15 percent of the original purchase price for furnishings is accepted fairly without complaint.
If the sum gets bigger, however, you should be able to substantiate this sum properly.
Because then the tax office will probably follow up critically.
I wish you success!
