Federal Constitutional Court tilts second home taxes
Second home tax on old calculation basis is unconstitutional
What applies to the property tax, also applies to the second home tax: The Federal Constitutional Court has prohibited the assessment, if the underlying data is more than fifty years old.
In the Bavarian communities of Oberstdorf and Sonthofen, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the second-home tax because it was based on the value ratios of 1964. This violates the constitution, the judges decided. This problem should also exist in other municipalities.
The second-home tax is a constitutionally recognized excise tax with limited local scope. However, if the tax is based on the so-called "annual gross rent", which determines the rental value of an apartment on the basis of the unit values of the rent index of 1964 and then extrapolates on the basis of price indices for the standard of living, this is unconstitutional, according to the Federal Constitutional Court (BverfG). Many other municipalities, including the cities of Kiel, Lübeck and Cuxhaven, do the same and similar things.
The judges of Karlsruhe have decided that this form of calculation may still be used until the end of March 2020. Sonthofen and Oberstdorf must revise the corresponding statutes. Other municipalities will have to review their statutes. Other municipalities, such as the metropolises of Munich and Stuttgart, assume annual rental costs for the calculation of the second home tax. Based on the contractually agreed net cold rent, which would be payable at the time of the tax liability for one year. This "model" is constitutionally in the beginning.
Secondary taxes have existed since the early 1970s. Numbers must be owners or tenants who have their main residence elsewhere and in the community a second apartment.
The Federal Constitutional Court has basically approved the collection of second-home tax in 1983.
However, the judges see problems again and again in the concrete design. It has already been decided that married couples commuting to work in another city should not be taxed. Students who are still registered at home with their parents have to pay.
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