Since the beginning of the year, the tax offices have been sending property tax assessments to property owners in accordance with the new regulations. This is not going smoothly in all cases. There are already lawsuits and judgments that highlight the weaknesses of the new procedure.
The property tax assessments for 2025 are based on the new 2022 property valuation for the first time. 73% of property owners now have a higher tax burden. For 30 percent, the annual property tax has more than doubled. 28% want to appeal against the property tax assessment.
With the support of the Haus & Grund Deutschland and Bund der Steuerzahler Deutschland associations, the first model lawsuit has already been filed in an eastern German federal state. Due to the market situation there, it is far from possible to achieve the rents that the tax authorities apply for property tax purposes. The highest tax authorities of the federal states have reacted: Owners can prove and claim a lower value.
There were considerable doubts about the tax office's approach to the standard land value in a case that was heard by the Düsseldorf Tax Court (Ref.: 11 V 2128/24 A ). The property is 522 square meters in size, is located in a landscape conservation area, cannot be built on and is used as a garden area. The tax office had set the property tax value on the basis of the standard land value for land ready for construction of 630 euros per square meter. The city's expert committee had determined a standard land value of only 3.50 euros per square meter. The court ruled that the tax office's calculation was not comprehensible. The court suggested a value of 10.50 euros per square meter.
If you have any doubts about the tax office's calculation, it may be worth having the tax assessment checked in detail. For example, incorrect information when completing the required forms may have led to incorrect calculations, as may information on the renovation of a house. However, the taxpayer must prove that the assessment is incorrect by means of an expert opinion. If the value calculation of the expert opinion is 40 percent lower than that of the tax office, the applicant is entitled to a reduction in property tax.
Graphic: © Webandi, Pixabay
