Anlage V checklist: tax return for landlords

What belongs in the Anlage V

In the Anlage V you enter, for each rented property, the year's income and the deductible expenses, meaning all spending connected with the letting. The difference is your surplus or loss from letting and leasing, which feeds into your income tax.

You fill in a separate Anlage V for each property. If you own two flats in different buildings, that means two Anlagen V.

Which income you declare

Income includes net cold rents, prepayments on service charges and back payments from statements; refunds to your tenant reduce it. What counts is when the money arrived, not which month it was paid for.

• The year's net cold rents by receipt in your account.
• Prepayments on service charges, because they are income even if you settle them later.
• Back payments and refunds from the service charge statement that were paid in the year; the service charge statement checklist walks you through those steps.
• The deposit only if you retained it, for example for damage.

Which deductible expenses you can claim

You can deduct everything you spend on the letting: depreciation of the building, loan interest, running costs, repairs and the costs of management and travel. The repayment of your loan is not deductible.

• Depreciation (AfA): 2 % a year for buildings completed from 1925 to 2022, 2.5 % for older ones and 3 % from 2023; the depreciation calculator works out the schedule.
• Loan interest from the financing, in the year of payment; the repayment schedule in the mortgage calculator shows the interest per year.
• Running costs: property tax, insurance and all other service charges, including those passed on to the tenant, because the tenant's advance payments count as income. Plus the owners' fees, but without the share for the maintenance reserve: that only counts once the owners' association spends the money on a repair.
• Maintenance costs: deduct immediately or spread over two to five years.
• Trips to the property as well as management, account, software and tax advice.
• Costs during vacancy, if you intend to keep letting.

Purchase costs and the 15 percent limit

Real estate transfer tax, notary, land registry and estate agent increase the acquisition costs and take effect through the depreciation of the building share. Notary and land registry costs for the land charge, by contrast, belong to the financing and are deductible in the year of payment. You work out the split with the purchase costs calculator.

In the first three years after the purchase, watch the 15 percent limit: if renovation costs excluding VAT exceed 15 % of the building's acquisition costs, they count as acquisition-related production costs (§ 6 (1) no. 1a EStG). You then depreciate them instead of deducting them immediately.

Filing deadline and record keeping

Without a tax adviser you file the tax return by 31 July of the following year. If 31 July falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline ends on the next working day (§ 108 Abs. 3 AO), so for tax year 2026 on 2 August 2027. With a tax adviser a longer deadline applies; ask your adviser for it. Since 2025 you keep receipts for eight years, counted from the end of the year in which they were issued.

Prepared all year

If you record income and expenses as they happen, you finish the Anlage V in an hour. With CIRO you book rents and receipts when they arise and have all figures together at year end.

If you have just bought the flat, the first letting checklist shows which documents you need at the start. With follow-up financing the new interest stays deductible; you calculate the new rate with the follow-up financing calculator.

Typical Anlage V mistakes

The most common Anlage V mistakes concern loans, purchase costs and renovations shortly after the purchase.

• Claiming the repayment as a deductible expense.
• Entering interest by loan year instead of calendar year as per bank statement.
• Depreciating the land share as well.
• Deducting renovations above the 15 percent limit immediately.
• Declaring the deposit as income although you did not retain it.