The clock for the new property tax is ticking.
The owners still have six weeks to submit their declarations – digitally if possible, so that it is easier for the tax authorities.
Roughly one can say that currently one fifth has fulfilled its duty.
The rest is still pending.
Some have started to delve into it - they work their way through it with growing desperation before they can hit send.
The next ones are looking for a tax advisor to take care of them.
Die-hards wait and see what happens.
And then there are those who have not even realized what is being asked of them.
Manfred Schaefers
Business correspondent in Berlin.
Follow I follow
Berlin shoots the bird again.
Other federal states inform the owners.
They have written to them, they give corridor numbers, refer to sources of information on the Internet.
In the capital, people think that a press conference is enough.
The citizens should see how they get the information.
Do you want to save on postage costs?
Was it sloth?
Or just naive?
Ultimately, everyone has to pay for it: taxpayers have more trouble doing what is required.
And in the end, the tax offices have to organize what the state government failed to do at the beginning.
Social case Berlin
Berlin is a special case in every respect.
The wall may have been gone for decades, but the city is still divided when it comes to property taxes.
In the western part, as in the whole area of the old Federal Republic, the unit values from 1964 are used, in the eastern districts, as everywhere in the five young federal states, with the values from 1935. After the Federal Constitutional Court had forced politicians to reform the property tax because their base was totally crooked, the latest grand coalition had to deal with it.
The Bavarians forced the then finance minister, Olaf Scholz (SPD), to include an opening clause in the law that would allow the states to regulate the property tax in their area according to their own ideas.
Not only the Free State, but also other state governments have made use of the opportunity - including Hamburg, the political home of the current Federal Chancellor.
There it was recognized early on that Scholz's work would lead to enormous increases in the burden – from which tenants would ultimately also suffer, because the property tax can be shared with the other ancillary costs.
People in Berlin weren't that smart.
There is now a threat of even greater upheaval because the property tax is merging what has been treated separately for so long.
It is not yet possible to say how high the new tax burden will be for individuals.
By the way, this applies to all federal states.
Because the tax burden depends not least on which assessment rate the respective municipality will decide on.
The cities have made a political commitment not to use the new regulation to enrich themselves.
Nevertheless, there will of course be shifts.
Anyone who has been undercharged for decades must expect a higher tax claim.
The new property tax will be levied for the first time in 2025.
500 euros for the tax consultant
The tax authorities want to have everything in the system by the end of October at the latest.
You give yourself a lot of time, so the deadline for taxpayers is correspondingly short.
These soon have to feed in the data that the state usually has for a long time, just scattered.
The Treasury is overwhelmed with it.
What he couldn't put together, the taxpayer has to do.
And that is not made easy for him.
For example, a son was turned up who requested an extract from the land register, citing his help with the new property tax – although common sense should tell you that this is a legitimate interest.
The professional help in filling out the declaration has its price.
One who does such work reports that he charges 75 euros for it.
Others charge a hundred more.
A third tax consultant aggressively offers his services – for no less than 500 euros.
He is based in Berlin, one almost thinks how could it be otherwise.
According to what one hears, the whole guild is not interested in the additional business, the consultants are up to their ears in work.
So everyone gets angry.
The vast majority have come to terms with the fact that the state is given what belongs to the state, but not with the fact that they have to do its job.
Finally, a request to the politicians: Stop talking about the need for digitization – make what is necessary easy.