At its meeting today, the City Council of the City of Chemnitz adopted a new statute on the levying of the second home tax. These will come into force on 1 January 2026 and replace the previous bylaws from 2015.
The new version updates the legal basis, clarifies exemptions and adjusts the amount of the tax.
Key changes at a glance:
- Increase in the tax rate: In future, the tax will amount to 20 per cent of the net cold rent (previously 10 per cent). The background to this is the consolidation measure adopted by the city council on 12 March 2025 to stabilise the budget.
- Clarification for shared flats: If several people share a flat, the second home only applies to those who actually use it as a secondary residence. A new feature is the explicit addition that this only applies to persons who are not part of a family.
- Reorganisation of exemptions: Exemptions, for example for flats of students and trainees under the age of 25 who use a room with their parents, or for flats that are occupied for professional reasons in addition to a main residence outside Chemnitz, are now regulated in a standardised manner.
- Specification of the tax liability: Holiday guests who use flats for less than one month are expressly exempt from the tax liability.
- Obligation of third parties to co-operate: In future, owners and landlords will be expressly obliged to provide information on taxpayers on request in order to ensure that the statutes are enforced.
Background
The second home tax allows owners of secondary residences to contribute to municipal expenses. There are currently around 630 second home taxpayers in Chemnitz. The increase in the tax rate is expected to increase revenue by around 140,000 euros. At the same time, an incentive is to be created to register the main residence in Chemnitz. This will have a positive effect on the amount of key allocations and income from the municipal share of income tax.