Dog Tax in Germany 2027: What Does Your Dog Cost in 41 Cities?

Who pays dog tax and who sets it?

Dog tax is a municipal tax. The Federal Statistical Office puts it this way: each municipality decides on its amount and structure itself. The basis is in the Basic Law (Art. 105 para. 2a), which leaves legislation on local expenditure taxes to the federal states; municipalities then implement it by bylaw under their state's municipal levies act. Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are special cases as city-states and regulate it through their own dog tax act.

It adds up. According to the Federal Statistical Office, municipalities took in about 430 million euros from dog tax in 2024, and 421 million in 2023. We did not find a documented nationwide range for the first dog. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Taxpayers Association shows for 2026 how far apart rates can be: from 24.60 euros in Verl to 180 euros in Hagen, and all 396 municipalities collect the tax.

Are there German states without dog tax? We found no state that abolished it statewide. It stays up to the municipality. Individual places opt out: Siedenbrünzow in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern abolished it because the administrative effort was too high. According to kommunal.de (2020), Baden-Württemberg and Saarland may not abolish it entirely; we did not check the statute text as a primary source for that. As far as we know, no complete list of tax-free municipalities exists.

Dog tax 2027: where it is already getting more expensive

Three of the 41 cities have something on the table for 2027. For the first two, the source is the city itself.

Be careful with Hamburg. The finance authority describes the increase to 120 euros on January 1, 2027 as planned. The dog tax act announced in June 2026 (Law and Ordinance Gazette no. 21) still says 90 euros in the version we read, and so does the city's service page (updated 10/28/2026). We could not document whether the Bürgerschaft passed the increase. For Munich, our source says "from 2027" without an explicit date of entry into force for the amendment.

Smaller places are raising rates too. According to local press, Füssen (110 instead of 90 euros), Wesseling (120 instead of 78 euros) and Selb (50 instead of 40 euros) will increase in 2027; we did not check these against the bylaws. Increases already took effect on January 1, 2026 in Stuttgart (108 to 144 euros), Cologne (156 to 174 euros), Heidelberg (108 to 144 euros) and Leipzig (96 and 192 to a flat 150 euros). If you live in one of these cities, you will probably see no new number in 2027, but the higher one from 2026.

How do you find out whether your municipality raises the rate in 2027? Search for "Hundesteuersatzung" plus the place name and you will find the bylaw in the municipality's local legislation. Whether a change is coming shows up in budget deliberations and council papers, which most municipalities publish.

Dog tax 2027 compared: 41 cities

All amounts are euros per year and appear in the bylaw or city page linked in the last column. Cities with a link have their own Souldog city guide. The "2027" column shows documented changes; "none known" means: status 2026, no change for 2027 known (as of October 2026). An asterisk marks values we could only read indirectly (see methodology below).

"No special rate" means: the bylaw we read names no separate, higher rate for listed dogs. That does not rule out other rules, such as a keeping permit from the public order office. "Not documented" means we did not find the value in the accessible sources.

Second dog and listed dogs: why the scale varies so much

The table shows three models. Many cities charge more for each additional dog, in part a lot more: in Stuttgart, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Hanover, Konstanz and Freiburg the rate from the second dog is 240 to 288 euros. Others charge the same amount for every dog, for example Cologne (174 euros), Wiesbaden (180 euros), Leipzig (150 euros), Karlsruhe (144 euros) and Munich (100 euros). Munich's committee paper states explicitly that the city does not tax second dogs higher.

In Wuppertal the 160 euro rate applies only if you keep exactly one dog; with two dogs you pay 288 euros for each. Munster and Mönchengladbach also step up again from three dogs.

For listed dogs the amounts vary most. Where a separate rate is in the bylaw, it ranges in our selection from 400 euros (Würzburg) through roughly 600 to 900 euros in many cities up to 1,000 euros (Rostock, Wuppertal); Nuremberg names 264 or 1,056 euros depending on the paragraph. Munich wants to raise its rate to 1,200 euros in 2027. Several cities name no special rate at all, including Berlin, Cologne and Karlsruhe.

Whether your dog counts as a "listed dog" is decided not by the tax office but by state law or a municipal ordinance. Some cities lower the rate after a passed test: Dortmund to 312 instead of 468 euros after a behavior test, Frankfurt to 225 instead of 900 euros with a companion-dog test (Frankfurt documented only indirectly). The normal rate does not depend on size or weight; Bremen even says so explicitly on its service page.

Registering your dog: deadlines, puppies and dog registers

Registration is mandatory, and the bylaw sets the deadline. The bylaws we read range from one week to one month after taking in the dog:

• One week: Hanover, Osnabrück.
• Two weeks: Aachen, Bielefeld, Bochum, Braunschweig, Bremen, Dortmund, Dresden, Essen, Leipzig, Munich, Potsdam, Wiesbaden, Wuppertal and others.
• Four weeks: Cologne, Mönchengladbach.
• One month: Augsburg, Berlin, Duisburg, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Konstanz, Mannheim, Munster, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Würzburg.

So a "typical" nationwide deadline of 14 days cannot be derived; check your bylaw. For puppies, tax liability usually starts once the dog has completed its third month; in Munich, Augsburg, Würzburg and Nuremberg only after the fourth month. Berlin and Hamburg link the tax registration to the dog register: whoever registers there counts as registered for tax as well. In Lower Saxony (for example Göttingen and Hanover), registration in the state dog register comes on top of the tax.

You register with the city treasury or tax office; some cities offer it online, Berlin and Bremen for example via ELSTER. The breed is usually required, in some places the chip number as well; Göttingen also asks for the vaccination record, proof of insurance and proof of competence.

Deregistering, moving and the dog tag

Deregistering follows deadlines similar to registration, usually one to four weeks. Tax liability ends, depending on the bylaw, on the day or at the end of the month in which you stop keeping the dog. If you move to another city, liability ends at the old place when you leave, and at the new place you must register the dog within the local deadline. Deregistering pays off: in Kiel, if you deregister late without proof, liability ends only at the end of the month before your notice arrives. We documented a general rule against double payment when a dog is kept in several municipalities only in one example bylaw from Baden-Württemberg (Dettingen: the municipality of the main residence is entitled to the tax).

The classic dog tag is disappearing in many places. Berlin has issued none since 2024, Magdeburg has required no tag since July 2024, Bielefeld asks for proof of registration instead of a tag, Essen has used a QR code in the notice since January 2026, and Leipzig lets the old registration tags expire on 12/31/2026. Other cities such as Aachen, Braunschweig, Cologne or Stuttgart still require the tag to be worn visibly outside the home.

Exemptions and reductions: shelter dog, assistance dog, rescue dog

Exemptions and reductions are almost never automatic. They come on application and often with a deadline. The most common groups according to the bylaws we read:

• Guide dogs and assistance dogs, and dogs for helpless persons: exempt, usually with a severe disability card (marks B, BL, aG, H).
• Certified rescue dogs of recognized organizations: exempt in many cities, for example Aachen, Cologne, Konstanz, Mannheim and Wiesbaden.
• Social benefits: Berlin exempts people on Bürgergeld and basic income support. Bielefeld and Wuppertal reduce to a quarter, Magdeburg and Munster to half, Cologne and Mannheim to 60 euros, in each case mostly for one dog only.
• Dog license: Munich, Nuremberg and Mannheim exempt after a passed test, in Munich for the following year and once per household, in Mannheim for two following years.

Shelter dogs are handled very differently. The overview shows how much the length of the exemption varies:

Usually the exemption applies only to dogs from that city's shelter, only for the first dog, and not for listed dogs. Dogs from abroad via animal welfare get no automatic exemption; we found no special rule documented anywhere.

Fine for not registering: what is documented

If you do not register your dog and thereby shorten the tax, you commit an administrative offense. The amount is set by the state's municipal levies act, not by the city. We documented these ranges: in Bavaria up to 5,000 euros (Art. 16 BayKAG); in Cologne, Potsdam, Rostock and Trier up to 5,000 euros by bylaw; in Göttingen, Halle, Osnabrück, Leipzig and Dresden up to 10,000 euros by bylaw. These are ceilings, not usual amounts. For many other cities the bylaw names no number, and then we write "not documented". Aachen also adds a surcharge of 10 percent of the tax for late registration.

Checks do happen. Essen ran an audit campaign in summer 2026 with a four-week period for late registration. In Hamburg the tax is recorded automatically from the registration in the dog register.

Can you deduct dog tax?

For the private family dog, usually not. Dog tax is neither a work expense nor a special expense. It can look different if you keep the dog professionally, for example to guard a business; then the tax office or a tax adviser decides case by case.

What stays for 2027?

Calculate with your city's rate from the table and look at the council decisions in December. Keep an eye on the registration, deregistration and moving deadlines too. The tax is only part of what a dog costs per year, but it is the part you can negotiate least.

Souldog shows you dog-friendly places, from cafés to off-leash meadows. How the rules for leashes, buses and trains differ from city to city is in the city comparison of dog rules 2026. And if you want to know what awaits you on the ground, the dog-friendly places directory lists outings that are fun even without a tax notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Methodology and gaps

The values come from bylaws and official city pages, retrieved on 10/30/2026. We could only read two entries indirectly because the pages blocked access: Bonn and Frankfurt (marked with an asterisk). Check them on the city page before you decide anything. For Oldenburg (consolidated version of 2011), Trier (version of 2018), Potsdam (2020), Würzburg (2021) and Kassel (2007) no newer version was available; the amounts match the city pages where those were readable. Dresden's bylaw online dates from 2006, and the city page (as of 12/12/2025) confirms the rates. Nuremberg's bylaw text was not accessible; we use the city page. We did not use calculators and guides from third parties as a source because they sometimes list outdated values.