Anlage V in English: a rental-income tax checklist for German property owners

Anlage V is the rental-income schedule of the German income-tax return. You complete one for each let property and each calendar year. It records the rent and service-charge payments you received and the costs you can set against them: loan interest, owner-paid costs, repairs and depreciation. The form itself takes an evening. Rebuilding a year of records the following summer takes much longer.

This checklist is for owners of an ordinary long-term residential letting. It explains what the form asks for, which documents to collect during the year and what a tax adviser (Steuerberater) will need from you. How much tax a property may save is a separate question, covered in our guide to rental property tax benefits in Germany.

Rent is income from letting and leasing (Einkünfte aus Vermietung und Verpachtung). Since the 2023 tax year, it has been declared on three schedules:

• Anlage V for a let building or apartment. You file a separate Anlage V for each property (official instructions to Anlage V).
• Anlage V-FeWo, in addition to Anlage V, for holiday homes and short-term lets.
• Anlage V-Sonstige for shares in co-owned property that files its own declaration, subletting of rented rooms and some less common cases (ELSTER, 2025 income-tax help).

Anlage V follows the same order every year: general details about the property (Allgemeine Angaben), income (Einnahmen), income-related expenses (Werbungskosten) and the resulting profit or loss, allocated between the owners (Anlage V 2025). The general section asks for the reference number on your property-tax assessment (Grundsteuermessbescheid) and the dates of purchase and handover.

On language. ELSTER, the tax administration's online portal, offers a machine-translated English version of its website, but tax forms and filling aids are excluded (ELSTER). However you file, Anlage V is completed in German.

An employee must file a return if income not taxed through payroll, such as a rental profit, exceeds €410 in the year (§ 46(2) no. 1 EStG). Filing is also mandatory if a payroll allowance (Freibetrag) was registered for an expected rental loss (§ 46(2) no. 4 EStG); see how the Lohnsteuerermäßigung works.

If the property makes a loss and nothing else obliges you to file, the return is voluntary (§ 46(2) no. 8 EStG). The loss reduces your tax only if you declare it. A voluntary return can generally be filed within four years of the end of the tax year, so a 2022 return remains possible until 31 December 2026 (§§ 169, 170 AO).

*Deadlines under § 149 AO; 2025 dates from the Bavarian tax administration. 31 July 2027 is a Saturday. The tax office can set an earlier deadline in individual cases.*

If you were obliged to file for 2025 without an adviser and have not yet done so, the deadline has passed. Speak to an adviser promptly.

You do not attach receipts. ELSTER's guidance asks for copies only when the tax office requests them (ELSTER). In the first year you claim depreciation, expect to submit a separate calculation of the depreciation base (instructions).

Rental income is taxed on a cash basis. Income counts in the year you receive it, expenses in the year you pay them (§ 11 EStG).

• Rent around New Year. A regularly recurring payment that falls due and is paid within a short period around 31 December belongs to the year it relates to. Case law treats a short period as up to ten days (BFH, X R 2/21). January rent paid on 29 December usually counts as income of the new year.
• Operating-cost statements. A back-payment from your tenant, or a refund to them, counts in the year the money moves, not the year the statement covers.
• The WEG reserve. Part of your monthly service charge (Hausgeld) goes into the owners' association (WEG) maintenance reserve (Erhaltungsrücklage). It becomes deductible only when the association spends it on maintenance (BFH, IX R 19/24).

A separate bank account for the property makes the rent ledger almost automatic, and its fees are deductible.

Enter the cold rent received in the year, without the tenant's operating-cost advances. Enter the advances separately and in full, together with any back-payment received from, or refund paid to, the tenant during the year (instructions). If you kept part of a deposit to cover unpaid rent, operating costs or damage, the amount kept is taxable income.

On the expense side, the operating costs you recharge appear again as recharged costs (umgelegte Kosten). The two usually offset each other, but the form expects both.

The WEG's economic plan sets your monthly advance. Its annual accounts show what the association actually spent, split into recoverable and non-recoverable costs, and what it paid for from the reserve (§ 28 WEG). They are usually approved at an owners' meeting the following year. Wait for them before you file.

Illustrative example. Fictional figures for tax year 2025.

Inputs

• Monthly Hausgeld advance of €330: €210 recoverable operating costs, €30 WEG administration fee, €70 reserve contribution and €20 other non-recoverable costs, such as the association's bank charges.
• Back-payment for the 2024 accounts, paid to the WEG in 2025: €150, of which €120 recoverable.
• The 2025 accounts show reserve funds spent on staircase repairs. The owner's share is €450.

The tenant paid €2,520 in advances and a €120 back-payment for 2024, both entered as income, so the €2,640 of recharged costs cancels out. What reduces taxable income is €630 of non-recharged costs and the €450 repair, €1,080 in total. The €840 reserve contribution left the owner's account in 2025 but stays off the return until the association spends it.

The annual accounts may also show amounts for household-related services under § 35a EStG. For a let apartment, leave them off your own return. That tax credit applies to costs of your own household, not to costs that are already income-related expenses (§ 35a EStG).

• Interest. The lender's annual statement separates interest from repayment. Only interest is deductible. One-off financing costs have their own section.
• Repairs. Keep the invoice and proof of payment. Repairs are normally deducted in the year paid. Larger maintenance costs on a mainly residential building can be spread evenly over two to five years, and co-owners must choose the same period (§ 82b EStDV). Work within three years of purchase can instead become part of the building's cost under the 15 per cent rule explained in our tax benefits guide.
• Furnishings. A fitted kitchen or other item that is not part of the building is depreciated over its own useful life. An item costing up to €800 before VAT can be deducted in full in the year of purchase (instructions).

Depreciation is claimed every year from the same base, so the first calculation matters. Keep:

• the notarised purchase contract, including any separate price for a kitchen or for the share of the WEG reserve;
• the transfer-tax notice (Grunderwerbsteuerbescheid) and the notary, land-registry and broker invoices;
• the date possession passed to you (Übergang von Besitz, Nutzen und Lasten). In the first year, depreciation runs only for the months from then (§ 7(1) sentence 4 EStG);
• the split of total cost between land and building. Only the building depreciates. The Federal Ministry of Finance publishes a calculation aid for this split (BMF).

The share of the WEG reserve you took over on purchase is not part of the depreciation base (instructions). Keep these papers beyond a sale: depreciation claimed reduces your cost base if you sell within ten years (§ 23(3) EStG).

• Married couples and civil partners assessed jointly complete one Anlage V together and allocate the result between them on the form, normally according to their ownership shares (Anlage V 2025).
• Other co-owners, such as unmarried partners, siblings or friends, are generally subject to a separate and uniform determination (gesonderte und einheitliche Feststellung). The co-ownership files its own declaration, and each owner reports their share on Anlage V-Sonstige (§ 180 AO; ELSTER). The tax office can dispense with this in cases of minor importance. Clarify it before the first filing.
• Interest and costs are generally deductible by the owner who bears them. If the loan, the payments and the ownership shares do not match, take advice.

1. Your tax identification number, tax number and most recent income-tax assessment.
2. The records in the checklist above for the tax year and, in the first year, from the purchase.
3. A short note of changes: a new tenant, a rent change, vacancy, refinancing, major works or a move abroad.
4. Details of your other income and whether you are assessed jointly.

The adviser's fee for the rental part of the return is itself deductible. Employees with rental income may also be able to use a wage-tax assistance association (Lohnsteuerhilfeverein), within the limits of § 4 StBerG. If a manager keeps your rent ledger, ask for an annual statement; see landlord responsibilities in Germany for what can be delegated.

• Furnished holiday homes and short-term lets, which also need Anlage V-FeWo.
• Letting to relatives at a reduced rent. Below 50 per cent of the local market rent, including recoverable costs, deductions are cut in proportion. Between 50 and 66 per cent, full deductions depend on a long-term profit forecast (§ 21(2) EStG; instructions).
• Property abroad, which needs Anlage AUS, and non-resident owners of German property, who file a different main return.
• VAT-liable letting, and a sale within ten years, which is declared separately.

Is there an English version of Anlage V or ELSTER?

No official English form exists, and ELSTER's machine-translated website excludes the forms. Some commercial tax software offers English guidance; check that it supports Anlage V.

Do I have to file a tax return if my rental property makes a loss?

Not always. A loss does not trigger the €410 rule, but other circumstances can, including a registered payroll allowance. Even when filing is voluntary, the loss reduces your tax only if you declare it.

Can I deduct my whole Hausgeld?

Not all in the year you pay it. The reserve contribution becomes deductible only when the association spends it on maintenance.

How long should I keep my records?

Keep each year's records until that year's assessment can no longer be changed; your adviser can confirm the period. Keep purchase and depreciation records for as long as you own the property and for some years after a sale.