What to do in the event of an erroneous reminder from the tax office?

Frankfurt The vast majority of almost 90 percent of German property owners have now submitted their property tax returns. The remaining owners are currently being reminded of the levy under threat of estimates and late surcharges of up to 25,000 euros. But it’s not just the dabblers who get such unpleasant mail from the tax office.

Property owners throughout Germany are currently finding more and more reminders from their tax offices in their mailboxes, even though they have already submitted their property tax returns. This is observed by both the taxpayers’ association and the “Lama” portal for property tax management. The reason for the strays are technical inadequacies of the tax offices.

In this way, received declarations remain unprocessed and the reminder letters or reminders are sent automatically. In other cases, the declaration is available, but the file number is incorrect or tenants or former owners are incorrectly addressed. The Handelsblatt shows how those affected have to react in various cases when they receive a wrong reminder.