A number of property tax returns are missing

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Development area near Cologne: 36 million properties have to be revalued

Photo: IMAGO/Christoph Hardt / IMAGO/Panama Pictures

Shortly before the deadline for submitting the property tax return, the German Tax Union spoke out against a renewed postponement.

"I don't believe in extending the deadline again in general," said union boss Florian Köbler to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

The financial administration urgently needs the necessary information from the property owners.

»Not subject to entertainment tax«

"I can well understand that filling out the property tax return is not subject to entertainment tax," said Köbler.

"But the tax authorities now urgently need the remaining property tax returns to give the municipalities enough time to determine the final property tax."

Tax offices and municipalities need the data in order to implement the property tax reform decided by the legislature.

For this, 36 million properties have to be revalued.

The deadline for submitting the necessary declarations was originally October 31.

The federal and state governments have already extended it by three months until January 31st.

The reassessment became necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court had judged the previous assessment method for property tax to be incompatible with the general principle of equality.

In Berlin, like most of the other federal states, the tax is to be determined from 2025 on the basis of information such as the year of construction and the standard land value, which are intended to reflect the actual value of the property.

To prepare for the reform, land and property owners were required to submit property tax returns with a variety of information.

Even shortly before this new deadline expires, many property owners have still not submitted their declaration.

Demands for a further extension were raised.

mike/AFP