Effects of the determination of the standard land value zones by the expert committees on the property tax burden in rural areas

Now that the valuation of properties in Germany has largely been completed by the tax authorities in recent months, the cities and municipalities have set the property tax rates for 2025 and have started to send out property tax assessments. Property owners can now compare whether the tax burden has increased and how high the increase in the tax burden actually is.

In a large number of cases, the revaluation means that structural changes made in recent decades, which were not taken into account in the standard valuation, are taken into account for the first time. In these cases, the increase in the tax burden is the result of the error correction.
In rural areas, however, there are also frequent increases in the property tax burden, which have their origin in the formation of the standard land value zones by the municipal expert committees. This is because the valuation law provides for the calculation of property tax values to be linked to the standard land values determined by the expert committees. Therefore, if the expert committee identifies a standard land value zone that extends very deep into the property, this means that the standard land value for building land must be applied to the entire depth. If the expert committee restricts the standard land value zone to the area of the property directly adjacent to the road, the standard land value for building land is only to be included in the valuation to this extent. The rear area would then have to be included in the taxation with a different standard land value. In rural areas in particular, this can have a considerable impact on the property tax burden, as plot depths of more than 100 meters are not uncommon there. In fact, these plots are usually built on at the front. This is followed by the house garden and agricultural use at the rear. If the expert committee now draws the building land boundary at the transition from the house garden to agricultural use, the valuation must be based on a very high land value. If the standard land value zone for building land is limited to the depth at which development would be permitted under building planning law, the house garden would no longer be valued as building land.  

The expert committees have become aware of this problem in recent months and are beginning to review and correct the previously established standard land value zones.

Landowners in rural areas should therefore take a look at the standard land value published in the coming weeks and months as at 1.1.2025 in the standard land value portals (BORIS) of the federal states and check whether the spatial extent of the standard land value zone has been changed. If a change has been made, you must apply to the relevant tax office for a recalculation of the property tax value. If the expert committees make an incorrect spatial extension of the standard land value zones, even with retroactive effect to the past, the change in the property tax value with effect from 1.1.2025 or an earlier date would also have to be applied for.