Property tax: what you need to know about Elster
Created: 07/11/2022 17:13
By: Franziska Kaindl
In 2022, property owners will have to submit a property tax online via Elster in addition to their tax return.
Those affected have until the end of October.
Due to the property tax reform, property owners will have even more work to do with their tax returns this year: in addition to the tax return, they must submit a
declaration to determine the property tax value
electronically to the tax office within a period of four months.
From July 1st to October 31st, 2022, owners have time to submit the completed form - there will probably not be an extension of the deadline requested by the Association of Taxpayers and the Haus & Grund Owners' Association.
The information in the declaration of determination will be the basis for future tax calculations.
What is property tax?
Property tax is levied on property.
This includes land and buildings on it as well as agricultural and forestry operations.
The property tax is paid by the owners and is due every year - when renting out, the costs can be passed on to the tenants.
The income generated goes exclusively to towns and communities to finance schools, day-care centers, swimming pools, cycle paths and roads, for example.
Who has to pay the property tax?
Owners of developed and undeveloped land
Condominium owners (not the WEG manager)
Owner of an agricultural and forestry business
in the case of a property that is encumbered with heritable building rights: the person entitled to heritable building rights with the support of the property owner, the so-called heritable building owner
in the case of a property on which other people's buildings are built: the owner of the property with the support of the building owner
In principle, everyone who owns property in Germany is subject to property tax and must therefore submit a declaration.
Tenants are asked to pay in a roundabout way: Landlords can pass the property tax on to them.
Anyone who owns a property must submit a property tax return in addition to the tax return.
© Christoph Hardt/Imago
Property tax: What information must be given in Elster?
The property tax return has to be made almost exclusively online via Elster, as this makes it easier for the authorities to calculate the so-called
property tax
value from the data .
However, contrary to the current regulation, the Free State of Bavaria also offers submissions in paper form - either to be filled out by hand or to be filled out on the PC via PDF and then printed out.
The information that needs to be provided depends on the respective federal state.
The states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia have agreed on the
federal model
with the Federal Ministry of Finance - here the
value of the property is decisive
.
The other federal states have made use of the opening clause to introduce their own property tax model.
In Bavaria, for example, an
area
model applies , in Hesse an
area factor model
and in Hamburg a
residential
area model .
as informed by the German Real Estate Association (IVD).
Depending on the federal state in which your property is located, different information can be requested.
These include, among others:
Land register data (e.g. address, owner, lot number, plot area)
type of use
ground value
Reference number of the unit value
living space
type of property
year of construction of the building
Number of garages and parking spaces
Anyone who owns a property in a federal state where the federal model is used must determine the value using either the
real value method or the income value
method.
The difference here is in the use: The capitalized earnings method is used for single-family houses, two-family houses and rental properties, of which more than 80 percent are used for residential purposes.
The material value method is used for properties that serve 80 percent or more for commercial or public purposes.
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Property tax return: "Elster alternative" for private owners in the federal model
The online service “Property tax return for private property” is available to private owners in countries where the federal model is used and who do not have an Elster certificate.
A simplified form for the property tax return can be filled out and sent to the tax authorities via an official Elster interface.
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, you need the following data when you fill out the “property tax return for private property”:
size of the property
Land register page number (if available), district, corridor, parcel
Tax number/file number of the property
ground value
Exact year of construction of the building (from a year of construction of 1949)
living space
Number of garage parking spaces
for condominiums: co-ownership share in the property
Contact details of the owners and their shares in the property
According to the Federal Ministry
of Finance, all federal states use the federal model for the evaluation of
agricultural and forestry companies
, apart from isolated changes
.
These fall under the discounted earnings method.
Important
If you have not used Elster before, you should take care of it quickly: Activation can take up to two weeks.
Activation on the "Property tax return for private property" platform also takes three to four and a maximum of 14 days.
What you need to consider when filing a property tax return
The
main assessment date
is July 1, 2022. This means that everything that has changed after that no longer has to be included in your information, according to the IVD.
The real estate tax will finally come into force on January 1, 2025 – until then the old
assessment basis with the assessed
value will still be applied.
(fk)