The Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Tax Advisors is demanding an extension of the deadline for property and real estate owners to submit their property tax returns. According to the current status, this must be submitted by October 31st. Chamber President Walter Sesterhenn said that it was very time-consuming for tax consultants to compile the documents completely and correctly. Especially in more complex cases, they would have to ask their clients for a lot of information.
“Due to this high expenditure of time, it is already foreseeable that the deadline of October 31st will not be met despite a considerable effort by the tax consultants,” said Sesterhenn, whose chamber represents the almost 3,900 tax consultants in the state. He spoke out in favor of extending the submission deadline to 2023. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) was recently open to extending the deadline, but this is a matter for the federal states.
From 2025, a new property tax calculation is to apply in Germany. To do this, almost 36 million properties in Germany have to be revalued. In Rhineland-Palatinate, purely arithmetically, 2.5 million landowners have to submit such a declaration via the Elster Internet platform or other apps. The tax authorities have been receiving the data since July 1st.
Sesterhenn said that many tax consultants already had no more capacity and clients would have to turn their backs because, in addition to property tax returns, they also processed corona aid final accounts and annual tax returns. “It’s a cycle that’s difficult to break: If you can’t find a tax advisor, you have to prepare the declaration without expert support and send it to the tax authorities,” said the chamber president. In the event of incorrect information, the authorities would then have to inquire again.
According to figures from the State Office for Taxes in Koblenz, by September 12 in Rhineland-Palatinate only around one in five landowners had submitted their property tax return. The State Office recently stated that nobody should immediately expect high penalties or fines if they cannot meet the October 31 submission deadline. In principle, there is also the possibility of submitting an application for an extension of the deadline if there are important reasons that delay the submission of a declaration.
Property tax information
