State Office for Taxes: Notices of property tax reform from mid-October at the earliest

The first notifications on the so-called property tax value and property tax amount based on the new valuation law will probably be sent to owners of undeveloped and developed properties (residential houses, condominiums and commercial properties) from mid-October 2022 at the earliest.

The prerequisite is that a declaration to determine the property tax value (declaration of determination) with the required information has already been sent to the tax office. Decisions in the area of agriculture and forestry will be made at a later date.

Due to the very high workload of the tax offices, they ask for a little patience and refrain from asking about the dispatch of the notifications.

remedies

The property tax value and property tax measurement notifications sent by the tax offices are independent administrative files that can be contested with the legal remedy of an objection. If there are any doubts as to the correctness of the determined property tax values or fixed property tax amounts, an objection can be lodged within one month of the notification of these decisions. These notices from the tax authorities do not contain a payment request.

Obligation to pay only from 2025

The property tax amount calculated in accordance with the property tax assessment notice is multiplied by the city or municipality by the relevant assessment rate in order to determine the property tax to be paid. The cities and communities that are entitled to the revenue from the property tax then send out the property tax assessments together with the payment request. According to the new law, property tax is to be paid from 2025.

Assistance in submitting declarations

A total of around 2.5 million properties in Rhineland-Palatinate have to be revalued. The deadline for submitting the declaration of determination required for this ends on October 31, 2022. It is intended that reminders will initially be sent in cases in which no declaration has been received. These reminders are not expected to be sent before the end of February 2023.

The following administrative services support citizens in submitting declarations:

- Questions and answers on property tax reform;

- Click instructions for filling out the declarations, both to find under www.fin-rlp.de/grundsteuer ;

- Information letter including filling-in help (data sheet) , which was usually sent to all property owners from May to August 2022.

In so-called hardship cases, it is also possible to obtain paper forms and corresponding checklists, sample declarations and brochures from the tax offices (Mondays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. without prior telephone notification).