Real property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer)
Legal acts concerning domestic real estate, in particular purchase contracts and other legal transactions, which establish a claim to conveyance of a domestic property are subject to real property transfer tax.
As a rule, tax debtors are the persons involved in the purchase procedure, therefore, e.g. the property buyer and vendor. Usually the tax burden is contractually transferred to one of the involved persons.
Certain purchase procedures are exempt from tax, these being, amongst others
- the purchase of a low-value property (tax-allowance of 2,500 €),
- the inheritance or gift of real property,
- the purchase of real property by the spouse of the vendor,
- the purchase of a property by persons who are related to the vendor in straight line of descent, as well as their spouses (including step children and their spouses),
The tax rate from most Federal States is 3.5 percent. As a rule, the real property transfer tax is calculated from the consideration.
All matters which are subject to tax to real property transfer tax must be notified to the competent tax office. This determines the real property transfer tax through written tax notice. When the tax has been paid, the tax office issues a so-called clearance certificate, without which the buyer of a property may not be entered in the land register.
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