ROUTE
Property Tax Return (Grundsteuer)
Property tax reform: owners file the assessment declaration via ELSTER, the tax office determines the value. Who must file, how to complete it, check the assessment and object to errors.
β Checked: 20/07/2026
The property tax reform did not change the rate but the calculation: the old assessed values were unconstitutional, and every property had to be valued afresh. The duty to file rests with the owner, not with the building management and not with the tenant.
COSTS AND DEADLINES
What you pay for on this route
- Filing via ELSTERyourself0 β¬
- Tax adviser or paid serviceoptional, depends on the propertyca. 30β200 β¬
Deadlines you cannot miss
- Objection against the assessment: 1 month from receiptProperty Tax: check the assessment and next stepshard deadline
Amounts follow official fees as of each stepβs verification date. Your city may charge a different rate β check the step itself.
βΊ More about this route
What follows is not one decision but three: first the tax office determines the property value, then the assessment base, and only afterwards does the municipality send a bill applying its own multiplier. An error in the first decision runs through the entire chain, so that is the one to check.
This three-step route explains it in order: who has to file and which model your federal state calculates by, how to complete the return through ELSTER and which details it requires, and how to check the decisions and object if the value has been calculated wrongly.
WHERE PEOPLE MOST OFTEN LOSE MONEY AND TIME
- Assuming the building management files it. The duty sits with the owner, and the reminder with a late-filing surcharge arrives there.
- Challenging the municipalityβs bill instead of the tax officeβs decision. What you contest is the property value decision β the bill merely applies a value already fixed.
- Filling it in from someone elseβs instructions. The states calculate by different models, and the required details differ, right down to whether living space is needed.
- Not reporting changes. An extension, a change of use or a conversion requires a new notification rather than staying on the old valuation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ROUTE
Who has to file the return?βΎ
Whoever owns the property on the relevant valuation date: a flat, a house, a plot of land or agricultural land. Building management and tenants do not carry the duty, even though the tax ends up in service charges.
Which details are needed to complete it?βΎ
The land and building data: land register sheet, district and parcel, plot area, year of construction and type of use. Some of it appears in the purchase contract and in the land register extract.
Why do three different decisions arrive?βΎ
Because the calculation is split between two authorities: the tax office fixes the property value and the assessment base, and the municipality applies its multiplier and bills the tax. The decision worth contesting is the tax officeβs.
What if the value has been calculated wrongly?βΎ
Lodge an objection against the property value decision within one month of notification. An error in area or year of construction is corrected from the documents, and the correction flows automatically through the whole chain.