Sonder-AfA under § 7b: when extra depreciation helps a rental investment

Sonder-AfA (short for Sonderabschreibung, special depreciation) lets the owner of a qualifying new rental apartment in Germany deduct up to 5 per cent a year of a capped cost base, for four years, on top of ordinary depreciation (§ 7b(1) EStG). For current projects, it applies only if the developer's building application falls in a statutory window, the building meets the Effizienzhaus 40 standard with a QNG sustainability seal, costs stay within €5,200 per square metre and the apartment is let as a home for ten years. It brings deductions forward rather than adding to them. At a 42 per cent marginal rate, each €10,000 of Sonder-AfA lowers your income tax by €4,200 in the annual assessment. That is a smaller tax bill, not a cash payment.

This guide covers eligibility and the calculation. For everything else a landlord can deduct, see rental property tax benefits in Germany.

Ordinary depreciation (Absetzung für Abnutzung, AfA) for a residential building completed from 2023 is 3 per cent a year of the building's actual cost (§ 7(4) EStG). Sonder-AfA sits on top:

• Up to 5 per cent a year in the year of acquisition and the following three years (§ 7b(1)). You may claim less, but an unused amount cannot be moved to a later year; it stays in the building's residual value (BMF letter of 21 May 2025, no. 64).
• A full year from day one. The Federal Finance Ministry (BMF) treats it as an annual allowance, not reduced for part-years (BMF, no. 63). Ordinary AfA in the first year is cut by one-twelfth for each full month before acquisition (§ 7(1) sentence 4 EStG).
• Different bases. Ordinary AfA uses the full actual cost; only Sonder-AfA uses the capped base (BMF, no. 65).
• No extra total. After the four years, the remaining book value is spread over the remaining useful life (§ 7a(9) EStG): the same total, sooner.

The cohort depends on when the building application (Bauantrag) or, where no permit is needed, the building notice (Bauanzeige) was filed (§ 7b(2) EStG):

Three details catch buyers:

• The developer's date counts. For a purchase, the relevant date is the developer's application, normally the authority's receipt stamp, not your purchase contract (BMF, nos. 12 and 14). A permit applied for during 2022 does not qualify, even if building started later (BMF, no. 10).
• Acquire by the end of the completion year. A bought apartment counts as new only if you acquire it by 31 December of the year it is completed (§ 7b(1) sentence 2). Completion and the transfer of benefits and burdens (Übergang von Nutzen und Lasten) must fall in the same calendar year (BMF, no. 30). Completion in December with a January handover fails.
• The older cohort is closing. Older-cohort apartments acquired in 2026 get one year of Sonder-AfA at most (BMF, no. 16).

The apartment must be a dwelling that did not exist before: a new build, or a flat created by converting offices or an unused attic. Modernising an existing flat does not qualify, however costly (BMF, nos. 25 to 28). It must be self-contained, with kitchen, bathroom and toilet, and normally at least 20 m² (BMF, no. 20).

For applications from 2023, the building must meet the Effizienzhaus 40 standard with a sustainability class (EH 40 NH), proven by the Qualitätssiegel Nachhaltiges Gebäude (QNG) at PLUS or PREMIUM level (§ 7b(2) no. 2; BMF, no. 19). Accredited certification bodies award the seal under the federal housing ministry's scheme (QNG), and certification takes place after completion, based on the building as built (BMF, no. 19).

So at signing the seal does not yet exist. Ask how the developer documents the target and what the contract provides if the building misses it. See what QNG and Effizienzhaus labels prove.

The same building cost faces two tests:

1. The ceiling decides whether you qualify at all. Above €5,200 per m², the allowance is lost entirely, not reduced (BMF, no. 48).
2. The cap limits the amount. Sonder-AfA is calculated on actual cost, but on no more than €4,000 per m² (§ 7b(3)).

For a purchase, cost means the building's share of the price and of the purchase costs (transfer tax, notary, land registry, any agent's fee). Land and its share of those costs are excluded, and so is furniture (BMF, nos. 43, 46 and 47). The BMF also counts the flat's ancillary rooms, such as a cellar, in the floor area (nos. 50 and 53); your adviser confirms the figure.

The land and building split (Kaufpreisaufteilung) therefore matters twice: a larger building share raises your AfA but moves you closer to the ceiling. See Kaufpreisaufteilung.

Illustrative example. Fictional figures. Apartment B: Leipzig, 50 m², bought off-plan from a developer (Bauträger) for €250,000 plus 7.5 per cent purchase costs (€18,750: transfer tax, notary and land registry; no agent). Land share 15 per cent. Developer's building application filed in 2024; purchase contract notarised 6 March 2025; completion and transfer of benefits and burdens 1 November 2026; let from completion. Assumed: the building meets EH 40 NH with a QNG seal, and 50 m² is the area for both tests.

The €28,437.50 above the cap still depreciates at 3 per cent; it earns no Sonder-AfA. At a price above about €284,500, with the same split and costs, the building share would exceed €5,200 per m² and the allowance would disappear.

Most of this evidence sits with the developer and is easiest to obtain before you sign. During a purchase in Berlin, Dresden or Leipzig, Alpha Minoris's Buyer's Agent service can request and collect it for your tax adviser (Steuerberater): the building application date, the energy and QNG certification status, and the cost breakdown behind the price. You do not need to live in the city. Alpha Minoris does not assess or certify tax eligibility; that judgement stays with your Steuerberater, and the claim is yours.

Illustrative example. Fictional figures. Apartment B as above. Ordinary AfA: linear, 3 per cent of €228,437.50, for November and December only in 2026. Sonder-AfA: 5 per cent of €200,000 a year, 2026 to 2029, claimed in full. From 2030, the residual value is spread over 29 years, the remaining-life convention in the BMF's own example (BMF, no. 66). Tax effect: income tax only, at an assumed 42 per cent marginal rate, which for a single filer in 2026 applies from €69,879 of taxable income (§ 32a EStG); no solidarity surcharge or church tax; income assumed to stay in that band after the deductions. Rounded to the nearest euro.

Reading the table:

• Year one is lopsided. Two months of ordinary AfA, but a full year of Sonder-AfA.
• The total does not grow. Without Sonder-AfA, ordinary AfA would stay at €6,853 in 2030; with it, the figure drops to €5,750, about €1,104 a year less from then on. Over the building's life the €40,000 is deducted earlier, not additionally. The value is timing, and possibly relief at a higher marginal rate now than later.
• The €4,200 a year is not cash. It is 42 per cent of €10,000 of extra deductions, arriving as lower income tax with the assessment after you file. The loan, the service charge (Hausgeld) and any empty months are still paid monthly. At a lower marginal rate, the saving shrinks in proportion.

B's contract date and same-year acquisition would also fit the 5 per cent declining-balance window in § 7(5a) EStG, and § 7b(1) now allows Sonder-AfA alongside it; the table uses linear AfA throughout, and linear or degressive AfA compares the two on these inputs.

The apartment must be let for payment as a home in the year of acquisition and the following nine years (§ 7b(2) no. 3). The BMF's own example counts ten years from the start date (BMF, Example 8), so for B plan on letting until at least 31 October 2036.

• What counts. A lease that is open-ended or runs for at least a year. Furnished letting is fine; holiday flats, serviced apartments and boarding houses are not (BMF, nos. 35 to 37).
• Vacancy is acceptable while you keep the flat available for letting (BMF, no. 33).
• Your own use or rent-free use does not count. Rent below 50 per cent of the local market rent, to family or anyone else, splits the allowance in the same proportion as the letting (§ 21(2) EStG; BMF, no. 32).
• Proof. You evidence the letting each year and report an early end in that year's return (BMF, nos. 69 and 70); the BMF letter's annex lists the information the tax office expects (nos. 117 and 118).

Under § 7b(4), all Sonder-AfA claimed is reversed if:

1. the apartment stops being let as a home within the ten years, for example because you move in (see moving into your investment property later);
2. it is sold within the ten years and the gain is not subject to income or corporation tax; or
3. later acquisition or construction costs push it over the cost ceiling within the first three calendar years after the acquisition year (for B, 2027 to 2029).

Earlier assessments are amended even if final, and interest runs on the tax due (BMF, no. 72).

A sale within the ten years is not automatically fatal. If it is taxable, as a private sale within ten years of purchase generally is (§ 23 EStG), and the buyer keeps letting, the allowance stands, provided you prove that continued letting (BMF, no. 71). All depreciation claimed, Sonder-AfA included, reduces your cost base and so increases the taxable gain (§ 23(3) sentence 4).

Sonder-AfA is subject to the EU de minimis aid rules, Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 (§ 7b(5)). For applications from 2023, that applies only to farming, business or self-employed income (§ 7b(5) sentence 2; BMF, no. 83), so a private individual with rental income is outside it. Where it applies, aid is capped at €300,000 over three calendar years (BMF, no. 84); owners holding property in a company or as business assets should ask their adviser.

It helps when the purchase already works without it: a fair price and a realistic rent for an eligible project; a high marginal rate over the next four years; and a plan to let for at least ten years, with cash flow you can carry once the extra deduction stops.

It helps far less when the price carries a premium for "tax benefits", when your income is about to fall, or when moving in or selling to an owner-occupier within ten years is a real possibility. If completion or certification is uncertain, so is the allowance. Test the purchase without Sonder-AfA first.

Before you sign for a new-build apartment, give your tax adviser the project dates, certification status and cost breakdown, and check that the purchase works without the extra deduction. Discuss your first rental property with Alpha Minoris.