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The municipalities levy property tax from property owners to finance their tasks. The municipality sets the property tax based on its assessment rate and sends out the property tax notices.
Have you received a property tax assessment notice from the municipality? Below you will find the answers to the most important questions. If you still have questions, you can find more detailed information under "Further links".
The following are subject to property tax
Property tax is a property tax, i.e. property tax must be paid for every agricultural and forestry business and every plot of land in Germany. The personal circumstances of the owner are not taken into account when determining the tax base.
The municipality demands the property tax from the person or persons to whom the tax office has attributed the property. If this attribution is incorrect, please contact the tax office. If the agricultural and forestry business or the property belongs to several persons, companies or communities, they owe the property tax jointly.
If the owner changes because the agricultural and forestry business or the property has been sold, given away or inherited, the new owner must pay the property tax from January 1 of the following year. For the year in which the ownership structure has changed, the old owner must still pay the property tax. The old and new owners can agree among themselves that the costs will be borne by the new owner. The municipality itself may not demand the property tax for this calendar year from the new owner, but must still approach the previous taxpayers for this.
If the property is rented out, the property tax can be passed on to the tenant as part of the operating costs.
The property tax is calculated as follows: Property tax assessment amount x assessment rate = property tax
A detailed description of how the property tax assessment amount is calculated can be found at"Property tax from 2025; receipt of the notice of the property tax value or the property tax equivalent amounts and the property tax assessment amount".
There are at least two assessment rates in each municipality. One assessment rate applies to all agricultural and forestry businesses in the municipality ("property tax A"). The other rate applies to all properties in the municipality ("property tax B"). In addition, the municipality can set further assessment rates for certain groups of cases. The municipality is free to determine the level of the assessment rates. In principle, the assessment rate for that year must be set by June 30 of the year. You can find out which assessment rate applies in your municipality.
You must pay the property tax to the municipality in which the agricultural and forestry business or the property is located. You will find the bank details on your property tax assessment notice.
Please do not transfer the property tax to the tax office.
Property tax is assessed as an annual amount, which is usually due on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15, one quarter each. You can apply to the municipality by September 30 of the previous year for the property tax to be due in one annual amount on July 1.
Your property tax assessment notice will provide you with detailed information on when and how much property tax you have to pay.
Please refer to the "Legal remedy" section.
Property tax can only be waived in exceptional cases. You must apply to the municipality for a waiver by March 31 of the following year.
Property is only exempt from property tax in exceptional cases. You can find detailed information at www.grundsteuer.bayern.de. You must apply for tax exemption at the tax office.
Please refer to the information under"Property tax; notification of changes to the property".
Property tax is calculated in a three-stage procedure.
You will therefore be sent three notices.
The first two notices (notice on the property tax equivalent amounts and notice on the property tax assessment amount) are issued and sent by the local tax office.
Details can be found under"Property tax from 2025; receipt of the notice on the property tax value or the property tax equivalent amounts and the property tax assessment amount".
The third notice (property tax notice) is issued and sent by the local municipality as soon as it has set its assessment rate. The municipality is free to determine the level of its assessment rates. Only the third assessment notice states how much property tax you have to pay. The due dates and the municipality's bank details are also listed there.
The deadline for lodging an appeal against the property tax assessment notice can be found in the instructions on the notice.
Property tax is assessed as an annual amount, of which one quarter is usually due on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15. You can apply to the municipality by September 30 of the previous year for the property tax to be due in one annual amount on July 1.
You must apply to the municipality for a waiver of property tax by March 31 of the following year.
Real estate tax reform
In its ruling of April 10, 2018, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the standard values to be incompatible with the German Basic Law. The Bundestag and Bundesrat therefore passed a reform of valuation law in the fall of 2019. The new values will be used as the basis for property tax assessments from January 1, 2025. Until then, property tax will continue to be calculated on the basis of the standard values. With effect from January 1, 2025, the federal states will be able to enact independent state legislation that deviates from federal law. The Bavarian Real Estate Tax Act was enacted on December 10, 2021.
Information on the real estate tax reform in Bavaria is available on the website of the Bavarian State Tax Office (see "Related Links") and the information hotline on Bavarian real estate tax at 089 / 30 70 00 77.
You can lodge an appeal against the property tax assessment notice or file a complaint.
For information on the procedure, please refer to the information on legal remedies contained in the notice.
You cannot justify an appeal against the property tax assessment notice on the grounds that one of the notices previously sent by the tax office is incorrect. These notices are binding for the municipality. You can find out how you can defend yourself against the notices from the tax office under"Property tax from 2025; receipt of the notice on the property tax value or the property tax equivalent amounts and the property tax assessment amount". If the tax office changes its assessment due to your objection, it will inform the municipality. The municipality will then amend its decision ex officio.
If the objection has no suspensive effect, an application for suspension of enforcement can be made to the original authority or the objection authority in accordance with Section 80 (4) VwGO. Instead, an application for an order or restoration of the suspensive effect of the objection can be made to the competent Bavarian Administrative Court in accordance with Section 80 (5) VwGO.
Please note: If it concerns the demand for public charges and costs (§ 80 Para. 2 Sentence 1 No. 1 VwGO), an application to the court is generally only admissible if the authority has previously rejected an application for suspension of enforcement (§ 80 Para. 6 VwGO).
You will receive a notice from the tax office about the property tax value (for property tax A) or the property tax equivalent amounts (for property tax B) and the property tax assessment amount.
If there is a change in the area or use of your property, you must actively notify the tax office or municipality. The tax office or municipality will then check whether the change to the property also changes the amount of property tax.
You will receive a notice from the tax office about the assessed value and the property tax assessment amount.
Property tax is payable for the last time on November 15, 2024 in accordance with this law (see "Special information").