The municipality of Iffeldorf wants to introduce a tax on second homes.
The municipal council has agreed on this in principle.
In Iffeldorf there are currently 256 people registered as having a second residence.
In Penzberg, too, there was recently a proposal to levy such a tax.
Iffeldorf - In Bavaria, the municipalities have been able to charge a second home tax since August 2004.
At that time, the local tax law was changed accordingly.
Currently, just over 100 municipalities and cities in the Free State levy a second home tax.
Many tourist communities are among them.
In the vicinity, for example, Bad Heilbrunn, Bad Tölz, Benediktbeuern, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Kochel and Murnau have a second home tax.
It is often argued that in this way the second home owners should share in the costs of the infrastructure in a community.
256 people with secondary residence are registered in Iffeldorf
In Iffeldorf there are currently 256 people with secondary residence (of which 241 are of legal age), treasurer Stefan Jocher said on Wednesday evening in the Iffeldorfer municipal council meeting.
"A very high number," he added.
The people with a second residence make up almost ten percent of the Iffeldorfer population, which currently amounts to just over 2,700 inhabitants.
The treasurer recommended that the local council introduce a second home tax.
He reckons that the Iffeldorf community would earn at least 50,000 euros a year.
According to Jocher, the advantage is that the amount is not included in the allocation calculation for the district allocation.
100 percent of the money stays with the community, he said.
Iffeldorf does not exhaust the tax rate
According to him, the second home tax is calculated according to the annual rental expense. In the case of apartment owners and tenants who have been provided with an apartment for a fee below the local rent, the municipality applies a net rent in the customary local amount for the tax calculation. According to Jocher, the municipality has a margin of discretion when it comes to the tax rate. The maximum is 20 percent. The treasurer recommended a tax rate of 15 percent for Iffeldorf. He used an example to calculate what that means: With a monthly net rent of EUR 1,000 or an annual rent of EUR 12,000, a tax amount of EUR 1,800 would be due per year. Second home owners whose annual income in the penultimate year before the tax liability arises does not exceed 29,000 euros can be exempted.For married people and life partners, the limit is 37,000 euros. According to Jocher, this means that students and trainees are usually not subject to tax.
The local council accepted the proposal positively.
In response to a question from Ria Markowski (PWG), the treasurer explained that the data collection initially means an effort, but it is not huge and feasible with the current staff.
In the following years it would be negligible, so Jocher.
Isolde Künstler (SPD) said that the “Working Group Housing” had already dealt with such a tax.
She said it is unfortunate that second homes are often vacant while other people are desperately looking for housing.
The fundamental decision for a second home tax was unanimous.
Now the statutes are being worked out, which will be discussed and adopted again in September.
The tax would then apply from January 1, 2022.
In Penzberg, the city is to examine the introduction of a second home tax
In Penzberg, as reported, city council member Martin Janner (PM) recently asked the city to examine the introduction of a second home tax. He had argued that people with a second residence use the infrastructure in Penzberg, but the city does not benefit from their income tax. The Penzberg city council discussed such a tax ten years ago, but rejected it on the grounds that the expense was too high. According to statistics, there are 662 people with second homes in Penzberg (as of December 2020). The city has a total of almost 17,600 inhabitants.
