Anlage V: How German Landlords File Rental Income for the 2025 Tax Year

If you collected even one euro of rent in 2025, you owe the Finanzamt an Anlage V with your 2025 tax return. The form sits inside your standard Einkommensteuererklärung and reports income from Vermietung und Verpachtung. Done well, it can turn a paper-profitable rental property into a paper-loss one for tax purposes, even while you bank positive cash flow. Done badly, it leaves money on the table or triggers a Finanzamt query that costs months to resolve.

This guide walks through filling out Anlage V for the 2025 tax year, what counts as deductible Werbungskosten, the rules around AfA and modernisation, and the mistakes most often flagged by the Finanzamt.

Filing deadlines for the 2025 tax year

A tax return for rental income is mandatory if you have positive rental income above the basic allowance (Grundfreibetrag of €12,084 for 2025) or if any other return obligation applies. In practice, almost every landlord must file, even at a loss, because the loss can offset other income.

Missing the deadline triggers a Verspätungszuschlag (late-filing surcharge) of 0.25% of the assessed tax per month, with a €25 minimum and a €25,000 maximum.

What you need before you start

Pull these documents together once. The Anlage V itself is straightforward if your records are complete.

Income side:

• Rental ledger or bank statements showing rent received in 2025 (cold rent and any prepayments).
• Heizkostenabrechnung and Betriebskostenabrechnung you settled with tenants in 2025, even if they cover earlier periods.
• Any one-off payments received (security deposit interest, payouts on damages, lease termination compensations).

Expense side:

• Annual mortgage statement showing interest paid in 2025 (Schuldzinsen, not principal).
• AfA basis from your purchase. The notary contract states the purchase price, you need the building portion only.
• Hausgeld statements for the year, separating recoverable from non-recoverable portions.
• Receipts for repairs, modernisation invoices, insurance, Grundsteuer if you paid it directly, and any travel to the property.
• Receipts for fees: Steuerberater (the rental portion), bank account fees, letting agent commissions, advertising on Immowelt or ImmoScout24.

If you’re missing receipts, the Finanzamt is generally pragmatic up to small amounts but will reject larger items without documentation. Set up a folder system now if you don’t have one.

Income side: lines 1 to 32

The first half of the form covers the property and the income.

Lines 1 to 8: Property identification.

• Address, when you acquired it, the size in m², whether it’s residential or commercial.
• If there are multiple units in one building you own entirely, you need a separate Anlage V per property (not per unit).

Lines 9 to 14: Rental income.

• Line 9: Mieteinnahmen ohne Umlagen (cold rent received in 2025). This is the Kaltmiete only.
• Line 10: Umlagen (operating cost prepayments received from tenants). Include all Vorauszahlungen for water, heating, etc.
• Line 13: Mieteinnahmen für Garage/Stellplatz if billed separately.

The Zufluss-Abfluss-Prinzip applies. Income is reported in the year you actually received it, not the year it was due. Rent for December 2025 paid in January 2026 belongs on the 2026 return, not 2025.

Lines 15 to 25: Mixed-use and special situations.

• Verbilligte Vermietung (renting below market rate, e.g., to relatives). If your rent is below 50% of ortsübliche Vergleichsmiete, you can only deduct expenses proportionally. Between 50% and 66%, full deduction requires a positive long-term forecast (Totalüberschussprognose). At or above 66%, full deduction without further test.
• Holiday rentals (Ferienwohnung) follow different rules covered later in the form.

Expense side: lines 33 to 84

This is where the value lives. Every euro you correctly claim here is a euro that comes off your taxable income at your marginal tax rate.

Lines 33 to 35: AfA (depreciation)

The single largest deduction for most landlords. Enter the annual depreciation for the building (the land portion is not depreciable).

For a property bought for €350,000 with 25% land share, the depreciable building value is €262,500. Standard linear AfA rates:

For the new build above with 5% degressive AfA, year 1 deduction is €13,125. For an older building at 2%, it’s €5,250. Use our AfA calculator to model the right figure for your property.

If you bought mid-2025, the AfA is prorated for the months you owned the property (12ths rule).

Lines 36 to 38: Schuldzinsen (mortgage interest)

Only the interest portion of your mortgage payment is deductible, not the principal. Your bank’s annual statement (Kontoauszug or Steuerbescheinigung) splits these out.

Also deductible:

• Disagio (Damnum) at point of disbursement, fully or spread depending on size and contract terms.
• Bankgebühren on the mortgage account.
• Interest on a renovation loan if the work is on the rental property.
• Bereitstellungszinsen during the construction phase.

Not deductible: principal repayment (Tilgung), penalty for early repayment of a personal loan unrelated to the property.

Lines 39 to 47: Erhaltungsaufwand (maintenance and repairs)

Repairs to keep the property in working order are immediately deductible. Examples: replacing a broken heating component, fixing a roof leak, repainting a hallway, repairing kitchen appliances that came with the unit.

Two key thresholds:

1. The €4,000 threshold per measure (excluding VAT). Below this, you can always treat the cost as immediately deductible Erhaltungsaufwand. Above it, the cost qualifies if it’s a repair to existing components, not a substantial improvement.

2. Anschaffungsnaher Aufwand (15% rule). If, within 3 years of acquiring the property, your renovation spend exceeds 15% of the depreciable building value, the entire spend is recharacterised as part of the building’s acquisition cost and depreciated over the building’s useful life rather than deducted immediately. Watch this carefully if you bought in 2023 or 2024 and you’re modernising in 2025.

For larger one-off maintenance (e.g., €15,000 for a new boiler), you can choose to spread the deduction over 2 to 5 years (§ 82b EStDV) if the spending pattern in your overall return makes that more tax-efficient.

Lines 48 to 56: Sonstige Werbungskosten (other deductible costs)

• Grundsteuer if you paid it directly (not via Hausgeld passthrough).
• Building insurance (Gebäudeversicherung) not covered by Hausgeld.
• Hausgeld, but only the non-recoverable portion. The portion you recover from tenants via Betriebskosten is income-neutral, you receive it and pay it through. The non-recoverable portion (Verwaltung, Instandhaltungsrücklage, certain bank fees) is deductible. Most landlords miscategorise this. Read the Hausgeld breakdown carefully.
• Travel to the property at €0.30 per km (or actual costs documented), if the trip serves the rental. Keep a Fahrtenbuch.
• Steuerberater fees for the rental portion of your return. Allocate proportionally if the same Steuerberater handles other parts.
• Letting and marketing: portal fees, photographer, viewings.
• Bank account fees on the dedicated rental account.
• Membership in landlord associations (Haus & Grund, etc.).
• Geringwertige Wirtschaftsgüter (low-value assets up to €800 net per item), e.g., a small appliance, can be deducted in full in the year of purchase rather than depreciated.

Lines 57 to 75: Modernisierungsumlage costs

If you carried out a modernisation under § 559 or § 559e BGB and passed through 8% (or 10% for heating) to tenants via rent surcharge, that surcharge counts as additional rental income on the income side. The expense itself is treated as a building cost and either depreciated as part of the AfA basis (for major improvements) or deducted over 2 to 5 years.

Lines 76 to 82: Reserves and provisions

Generally not used for private landlords. Larger landlords may file a Sonderabschreibung if eligible.

Line 83: Total Werbungskosten

The sum. This is what gets subtracted from rental income to determine the taxable Vermietungsergebnis.

Worked example: Berlin apartment, 2025

Property: 75 m² apartment in Berlin-Friedrichshain, bought 1 April 2024 for €380,000 (notary contract states 22% land share).

Building basis for AfA: €380,000 × 78% = €296,400. Built in 2018, so post-1924, 2% linear, useful life 50 years.

Income side:

• Cold rent (12 × €1,400): €16,800
• Operating cost prepayments received: €3,600
• Total income: €20,400

Expense side:

• AfA: 2% × €296,400 = €5,928
• Mortgage interest in 2025 (€280,000 loan at 3.4% for full year): roughly €9,520
• Hausgeld total €5,400, of which roughly 40% non-recoverable (€2,160 deductible)
• Operating costs paid through to providers (heating, water, etc.): €3,600 (offset against the prepayments received)
• Grundsteuer paid directly: €420
• Steuerberater portion: €350
• Travel (4 trips at 25 km each, 0.30/km): €60
• One repair (kitchen tap replaced, €180): €180
• Insurance not in Hausgeld: €240
• Total Werbungskosten: roughly €22,458

Vermietungsergebnis: -€2,058 (a paper loss).

This loss reduces your other taxable income (employment, capital gains, etc.) at your marginal rate. At a 42% bracket, the €2,058 loss is worth €864 in actual tax savings.

This is the magic of leveraged residential property: positive cash flow combined with a paper loss for tax purposes, because depreciation is a non-cash expense and mortgage interest dominates the early years of the loan.

Common mistakes the Finanzamt flags

1. Deducting mortgage principal. The single most common error. Only interest is deductible. The bank’s Steuerbescheinigung shows the split, use it.

2. AfA on the full purchase price. Land is not depreciable. The notary contract usually states the split, otherwise the Finanzamt uses the BMF Arbeitshilfe to estimate it. If you have a higher building share than the Arbeitshilfe shows, get a Gutachten.

3. Treating modernisation as repair. Replacing a 30-year-old heating system with a new heat pump is not Erhaltungsaufwand, it’s a Herstellungskostenaufwand that gets capitalised. Replacing a broken window with the same model is repair.

4. Missing the 15% Anschaffungsnaher rule. Aggressive renovation in the first 3 years pulls the costs out of immediate deduction and into the AfA basis. This is a delayed deduction at lower annual rates.

5. Including recoverable Hausgeld. The portion you bill on to tenants via Betriebskosten is not your expense. Only Verwaltungskosten and the Instandhaltungsrücklage components are deductible.

6. Forgetting one-time fees. Many landlords miss bank account fees, advertising costs, photographer fees for letting, the dedicated portion of Steuerberater fees, travel, and membership fees.

7. Wrong tax year for rent. Zufluss-Abfluss principle. Rent received in January 2026 for December 2025 belongs to the 2026 return.

8. Reporting Mietkaution interest as your own income. Security deposit interest belongs to the tenant, not you. The deposit itself is held in trust and is not income.

9. Not splitting mixed-use expenses. If you live in part of the building yourself, expenses must be apportioned by m² or another defensible key.

10. Filing without Anlage V when you should. Even at a loss, file. The loss is valuable.

Special situations

Vacancy. Months of empty rental are deductible (Werbungskosten on the empty period are still claimable) provided you can show you were genuinely trying to re-let. Keep marketing records.

Newly acquired property. AfA is prorated by month. The acquisition month counts in full.

Sale during the year. Income and expenses up to the date of transfer (Übergabe) belong to your return. Anything after belongs to the buyer’s. The capital gain may be subject to Spekulationssteuer if held less than 10 years (with exceptions for owner-occupied conversions).

Inherited property. AfA continues at the original schedule, the new owner steps into the depreciation profile (Fußstapfentheorie).

Rented to relatives. The 66% rule. Below 66% of ortsübliche Vergleichsmiete, the Finanzamt prorates expenses proportionally. Below 50%, the rental is treated as partial private use.

Ferienwohnung (holiday rental). Different rules. The Finanzamt requires either a long-term renting forecast or treats the property as partly private use. Often a Liebhaberei (hobby) classification is asserted, which would deny all losses. Get specific advice.

How to file

ELSTER online. Free, official, the tool the Finanzamt itself prefers. Anlage V is integrated into the standard ELSTER Einkommensteuererklärung. You’ll need an ELSTER certificate which takes a few days to obtain by mail.

Tax software (WISO, Smartsteuer, Buhl Lexware). All carry Anlage V with guided input. €25 to €60 typically. Useful if you have many properties or complicated situations.

Steuerberater. Necessary if you have multiple properties, foreign assets (Anlage AUS), trust structures, or you simply want the longer deadline. Costs scale with complexity, expect €300 to €1,500 for a typical landlord with 1 to 3 properties.

Connecting the dots

The Anlage V is the single most leveraged piece of paperwork in a landlord’s year. It connects everything:

• Purchase decisions (the building share, the AfA rate, the location’s Mietspiegel) feed straight into the form.
• Financing structure (interest-only periods, Sondertilgung, refinancing) determines the size of the Schuldzinsen line.
• Modernisation timing (within 3 years vs after, threshold per measure) determines whether costs are immediately deductible or capitalised.
• Rent strategy (using § 558 increases, § 559e modernisation surcharges) determines the income side.

Use our rental yield calculator to model the full pre-tax picture, the AfA calculator to compute the right depreciation, and the mortgage calculator to break out the interest you’ll claim each year. Together they reconstruct exactly what your Anlage V will look like for the 2025 year and project forward.

The landlords who optimise their Anlage V well over a 10-year holding period typically save 15 to 25% of their nominal cash-on-cash return on tax alone, compared to landlords who file by guesswork. That’s the real reason this form matters.