Zweitwohnungssteuer Festsetzung

When is the second home tax payable and how much is it?

Anyone who occupies a secondary residence (secondary residence in the sense of the registration law) in the city of Bremen as an owner, tenant or gratuitous user is generally liable to pay secondary residence tax.

• Lease contract
• Registration confirmation

• A dwelling within the meaning of the Secondary Dwelling Tax Act is a set of rooms intended for living or sleeping, which includes a kitchen or kitchenette and a toilet.
• Married couples or registered partnerships who are not permanently separated and one of whom maintains a second home for professional reasons in addition to the common main home located outside the municipality of Bremen are exempt from the tax obligation.

The taxpayer (second home owner) must submit a tax return for each calendar year by March 1 of the following year, in which the second home tax is to be calculated by himself. Those who have already declared a second home tax in the previous year only need to submit a second home tax declaration if there have been changes in terms of registration law or personal changes (e.g. rent increase or relocation). Otherwise, the previous amount must be paid by March 1 of the following year.

The second home tax is an avoidable expense tax. Persons who do not have sufficient means usually maintain only one dwelling. The local law on the levying of a tax on secondary residences in the municipality of Bremen is mandatorily linked to the registration data. Decisive here is § 21 of the Federal Registration Act, according to which the main dwelling is the predominantly used dwelling of the resident and each additional dwelling is his secondary dwelling. For the determination of the main dwelling, it is decisive which of several dwellings is predominantly used in terms of time.

Please check your registration data.
If you have any questions regarding registration in the city of Bremen, please contact the Bürgeramt (Meldeangelegenheiten).