Property tax shock: real estate owners will have to pay 14,000 euros instead of 433 euros in the future

The new property tax will apply from 2025.

Especially with the Baden-Württemberg model, many owners are threatened with a multiplication of costs.

This is shown by the case of a pensioner couple from Freiburg.

Freiburg – The property tax reform is causing resentment – ​​and uncertainty among all owners.

Because: All owners of a house, property or an apartment in Germany had to submit a property tax return by the end of January - exception: Bavaria.

The tax offices use the data to calculate the new property tax, which will apply from 2025.

However, it is still completely unclear how high this will be.

14,000 euros property tax?

The case of the retired couple Stalter from Freiburg

This is due to the fact that the notices on the property tax value are issued by the tax office - but the assessment rate is then only set later by the municipalities and this is the decisive factor in determining the amount of the property tax.

This will probably not happen until 2024 - and then it is usually too late for owners to take action.

You can only lodge an objection up to four weeks after receiving the first property tax assessments from the tax offices, which in most cases will be sent out this year.

In any case, the retired couple Stalter, who live in the south of Freiburg, would like to appeal.

There they own a modest single-family house from the 1950s - with a very spacious plot of 2500 square meters, reports the

.

The problem for the couple: From 2025, the property tax could therefore multiply for them: they currently pay 433 euros, if Freiburg retains the assessment rate, this will amount to 14,000 euros after the reform.

Norbert Stalter was shocked to the

: "When I calculated the number for the first time, I felt very bad.

I slept very badly," said the pensioner.

They couldn't afford to pay a five-figure amount a year in property taxes.

Baden-Württemberg's special approach to the new property tax

The sharp rise in prices in the case of the Stalters is due to Baden-Württemberg's special approach to property tax reform.

Because unlike in other federal states, only the pure property size and the so-called standard land value, which is based on the residential area, count in the southwest when calculating the new property tax.

And the Stalters, who have been living here since the 80s, have found a popular residential area – the land value for them is 1050 euros per square meter.

So anyone who owns a single-family house with a garden in Baden-Württemberg will probably have to pay additional property tax from 2025 - it could be cheaper for apartment owners in an apartment building instead.

The municipalities in the southwest can still react accordingly and lower their assessment rates - but then they lose important tax revenue.

Experts therefore expect that there will be no sharp reductions in the assessment rates.

And: In the case of the Stalters, a reduction will not bring much anyway, the

calculates .

Because even if Freiburg were to lower the assessment rate from the current 600 to 400 percent, the pensioner couple would still have to pay around 10,000 euros in property tax.

Several owner associations therefore see the Baden-Württemberg model as unconstitutional and filed a lawsuit last year.

The taxpayers' association advises all owners in the southwest to lodge an objection as soon as they receive the property tax assessments from the tax offices.

This is exactly what the Stalters intend to do.

Norbert Stalter told the

that he is still hoping that the Federal Constitutional Court will overturn the Baden-Württemberg model.

New property tax: Expert speaks of “nationwide price increases”

Even if Baden-Württemberg is an extreme exception - according to experts, there are also signs of an increase in prices after the property tax reform in the other federal states.

, Hans Reinold Horst, state chairman of the Haus & Grund owners' association in Lower Saxony, sees

a trend towards a "nationwide increase in prices".

"The new property tax will result in an additional burden across the board - above all due to adjusted assessment rates," he told the news portal last year.

Because: The property tax is one of the most important sources of income for the municipalities.

According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, the levy flushes almost 15 billion euros into the coffers of the municipalities every year.

The funds are used to finance schools and daycare centers, among other things, but also swimming pools and libraries or cycle paths and bridges.