Grundsteuerreform 2022: The submission deadline for the 2022 property tax return begins today
The implementation of the Grundsteuerreform 2022 will start in 2022, today is the starting signal for submitting the property tax return: the property tax values are now being gradually reassessed.
All property owners and property owners must submit a tax return for their properties and agricultural and forestry operations between July 1st, 2022 and October 31st, 2022.
- Grundsteuerreform 2022: The submission deadline for the 2022 property tax return begins today
- Important deadlines for property tax returns
- Grundsteuerreform 2022 & tax return: Are property owners informed by the state?
- Grundsteuerreform 2022: Submit your tax return by October 31, 2022
- Property tax return: Do you already have an Elster user account?
- Why are there changes in the property tax calculation?
- How much property tax will you have to pay in the future?
Important deadlines for property tax returns
January 1, 2022: Main assessment date for determining the (new) property tax values
End of March 2022: Public request by the Federal Ministry of Finance to submit the declaration of assessment (property tax return)
July 1, 2022: Electronic transmission of the assessment declaration (property tax return) via ELSTER possible.
October 31, 2022: End of the deadline for submitting the declaration of assessment (property tax return)
January 1, 2025: Date of origin of the reformed property tax: This is the date when owners have to pay the new property tax.
Grundsteuerreform 2022 & tax return: Are property owners informed by the state?
In almost all federal states, owners have already been informed by information letter about the property tax return and the documents required for it:
- April 2022: Sending of the information letter for the property tax return in Brandenburg, Bavaria and Thuringia.
- May 2022: Sending of the information letter for the property tax return in Baden-Württemberg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
- June 2022: Sending of the information letter on the property tax return in Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
- July 2022: Sending of the information letter for the property tax return in Bremen.
Grundsteuerreform 2022: Submit your tax return by October 31, 2022
The submission must always be made electronically. This should probably be possible from July 1st, 2022 via the online service of the tax administration “Mein ELSTER”. The deadline for submitting the declaration is October 31, 2022.
Property tax return: Do you already have an Elster user account?
The property tax return must always be submitted electronically to the tax office – submission on paper is only possible in exceptional cases.
In order to be able to use the ELSTER portal (By the way, ELSTER means “ electronic tax return ” ), you need a user account there. The Elster user account is free of charge.
- If you already have a user account to submit your income tax return electronically to the tax office, you do not need to do anything: You can also use this account to submit the property tax return.
- If you do not yet have an Elster user account , please register at www.elster.de . It is best to do this before July 1st, 2022, because you will receive your password in the post – it can take a few weeks! You can then use the Elster account not only for the property tax return, but also for submitting your income tax return – if you wish. There is no obligation for private individuals to submit tax returns electronically. This also applies if you have an Elster user account.
With your user account, you can also electronically send declarations for relatives to the tax office! This applies to property tax returns as well as income tax returns.
Why are there changes in the property tax calculation?
The background to the Grundsteuerreform 2022 are several rulings by the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG): In April 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the uniform valuation of land and real estate in the old federal states since the beginning of 2002 is incompatible with the general principle of equality and is therefore unconstitutional.
This means that the property tax can no longer be levied in the previous form (BVerfG, judgment of April 10, 2018; Az. 1 BvL 11/14, 1 BvL 12/14, 1 BvL 1/15, 1 BvR 639/11, 1 BvR 889 /12).
So far, the real estate tax for houses and land in the old federal states has been calculated according to the unit values from 1964, in the new federal states even values from 1935 apply.
How much property tax will you have to pay in the future?
At the moment, no one can really say how high your real estate tax burden will actually be in the future, because the property valuation has not been finally completed and the assessment rates from 2025 have not been set.
The new property tax regulations passed on November 8th, 2019 stipulate that the basic structure of the property tax will be retained.
What that means and what the regulations for determining and calculating the property tax look like in the individual federal states or city states, we explain to you on our detailed topic page on the Grundsteuerreform 2022!