Property tax reform means obligation to provide information

Property tax reform means obligation to provide information for owners by October 2022

Under the Real Property Tax Reform Act of 2018, anyone who owned real property on January 1, 2022, is required to submit a declaration to the relevant tax office to establish the value of the real property. This also applies if the real property was sold after January 1, 2022 or if it is rented or leased and actually used by someone else. With the exception of so-called leasehold cases, the owner of the land is always obliged to submit the declaration.

The declaration to determine the value of the real property tax must also be submitted for real property that was previously taxed according to the so-called substitute assessment.

The new property tax will apply as of January 1, 2025. In order to ensure that all properties are currently assessed by the tax office by then and that the new property tax can be properly assessed by the City of Jena, property owners must have provided all necessary data to the tax office by October 31, 2022. The declarations are to be submitted there electronically beginning July 1, 2022.

All owners of real estate in Thuringia should also have received an information letter from the tax authorities in this regard by the end of May.

Further information is available on the website of the Thuringia Ministry of Finance.

General questions about the property tax reform can be directed to the statewide property tax reform telephone hotline at 0361/57 3611 800 from 8 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Background

In April 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the assessment of real estate with the standard value violates the Basic Law and called for a new legal regulation. The standard values date back to 1935 (in the new federal states) or 1964 (in the old federal states). The actual development in the value of real estate is not reflected by these old values and similar real estate is treated differently. The Real Estate Tax Reform Act of 2019 created a new legal regulation.