Tactics with the property tax – Experts advise to object to the property tax

You don’t have to put up with everything the state comes up with. Those who have already submitted the property tax return will receive two notices from the tax office as an answer. You should check them and file a complaint if there are any mistakes.

But even if the authorities have calculated correctly and your information is correct, you can consider an objection. Some tax experts generally advise filing an objection because there are constitutional concerns nationwide.

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: Property tax objection – sample letter

Tax expert breaks down new property tax

Already in December 2022 Prof. Dr. Gregory Kirchhof

in one
Focus interview

pointed out that he considers the federal property tax law (federal model) and the model of Baden-Württemberg to be unconstitutional.

He cites several reasons for this, most notably

inaccurate ground values
. The chair holder for public law, financial law and tax law at the University of Augsburg

advises all those affected to object to the notifications sent.

He only doesn’t see the problems for the federal states of Bavaria, Hamburg, Hesse and Lower Saxony because their own models have been developed there. According to Kirchhof, anyone who does not make their property tax return in one of the four federal states mentioned should file an objection to the decision and then sue.

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: Property tax objection – sample letter

Basic and follow-up notifications

A fundamental problem with the property tax is that it is complicated and many taxpayers have tackled it themselves under time pressure. Important to know: The actual property tax assessments that state how much you have to pay are not yet being sent out. They’re coming

2024
.

In response to a submitted property tax return, the tax offices currently send two notices:

Property tax assessment notice and property tax assessment notice
. The assessment of value is a so-called basic assessment. Your details will be added up here. The measurement notice, on the other hand, is a follow-up notice because it only uses the result of the property tax assessment for further calculations.

The thing is that the notices mentioned practically form a chain and notices of determination are binding for follow-up notices. You cannot later take action against the property tax assessment if you have found an error in the property tax assessment.

The legislator sees only a very short period of time for objecting to the property tax assessment

from a month
after access before.

How to appeal

Objecting to a real estate tax assessment is easy with a sample letter. If you find a calculation error in the notification or you notice that you made a mistake in the information, state this as a reason.

If you want to appeal because of constitutional concerns, you have two options. If the objection period is running out, you can state that the reasons will follow in a later letter. This will at least save you time.

Otherwise, there are text modules that you can use to justify constitutional concerns. This is provided, for example, by the IWW (Institute for Knowledge in Business).

Download & information at CHIP.de
: Property tax objection – sample letter

Which speaks against the general objection

Don’t give the wrong impression here: Whether you should lodge a general objection to the property tax notices is extremely controversial, even among experts. Many tax consultants only advise appeals in the case of obvious mistakes.

If you lodge an objection to the real estate tax assessment with reference to the possible unconstitutionality, the tax offices are likely to reject it fairly quickly. Tax consultant Christian Herold points this out in a technical article for the IWW.

“There is no right to rest the proceedings. From today’s perspective, even the reference to the constitutional doubts will not result in the proceedings being suspended. It can therefore be said that an objection – at least for the time being – brings only a very small delay

“.