If you are the owner of real estate (or, in the new federal states, the user of agricultural and forestry property) that is not exempt from real estate tax, the tax office will issue a real estate tax assessment notice to you. This land tax assessment notice serves the municipality as the basis for the land tax assessment notice to be issued.
In the case of real estate tax, the tax object is the real estate as defined by the valuation law.
Property tax is assessed in a three-stage procedure.
The so-called standard value to be determined by the tax office is decisive for the calculation of the property tax. The tax assessment amount is determined by applying a tax assessment figure to the assessed value. In the case of agriculture and forestry in the new federal states, the standard value is replaced by the substitute economic value.
The notice of assessed value is the basis for the notice of land tax assessment, and the notice of land tax assessment in turn is the basis for the notice of land tax assessment. If you have objections to the amount of the assessed value of the real property, you must appeal against the notice of assessed value within the appeal period; if you have objections to the tax assessment figure, you must appeal against the notice of real property tax assessment figure.
The basic tax rate for land in the old federal states is between 2.6 and 3.5 per cent, for land in the new federal states it is between 5.0 and 10 per cent; for agricultural and forestry operations it is 6 per cent in both the old and new federal states.
Under certain conditions, you can be exempted from property tax. This is the case, for example, if you are a non-profit corporation and the property is used exclusively and directly for non-profit purposes. However, an exemption is usually not possible if the property is used for agricultural, forestry or residential purposes. You can apply for an exemption from property tax at the tax office.