Taxing rental income: the Anlage V for landlords (2026)

What is the Anlage V?

The Anlage V (rental income schedule) is the supplement to your income tax return on which you declare your Einkünfte aus Vermietung und Verpachtung (income from renting and leasing). The legal basis is § 21 EStG. The load-bearing fact first: what is taxed is not your bank balance but your surplus — rental income minus Werbungskosten (income-related expenses). You enter both on the Anlage V, and as a rule you complete a separate Anlage V for each rented property.

The filing deadline is normally 31 July of the following year. For tax year 2025, that means the deadline runs until 31 July 2026.

Which rental income must I declare?

Income includes everything that flows to you from the letting:

• the Kaltmiete (cold rent, i.e. rent without ancillary costs),
• the Nebenkosten advance payments and any back-payments from the Nebenkostenabrechnung (ancillary cost statement),
• income from co-let parking spaces, garages or furniture.

The cash-flow principle applies: what counts is what actually reached your account in the relevant calendar year. The passed-on Nebenkosten must therefore first be declared in full as income — but they are largely neutralised by the deductible operating costs on the expense side.

Which Werbungskosten can I deduct?

Werbungskosten are all expenses connected with the letting (§ 9 EStG). They reduce your taxable surplus and are the lever of every landlord's tax return.

Werbungskosten (deductible)	Legal basis / note
Building AfA (depreciation)	§ 7 EStG, generally 2 % (3 % for build year from 2023)
Schuldzinsen (interest)	interest share of the loan, not the repayment
Erhaltungsaufwendungen	repairs, maintenance
Administrative and ancillary costs	insofar as not passed on to tenants
Grundsteuer	insofar as you bear it as landlord

The loan repayment (Tilgung) is not deductible — it is not an expense but the building of equity. The purchase price itself is also not a Werbungskosten; it enters through the AfA.

How does the building AfA work?

The AfA (Absetzung für Abnutzung, i.e. building depreciation) spreads the acquisition or construction cost of the building over its useful life and is usually the single largest item. Under § 7 Abs. 4 EStG:

• 2 percent per year for most residential buildings (useful life around 50 years),
• 3 percent per year for residential buildings completed after 31 December 2022.

Only the building share is depreciated. The value of land does not wear out and is therefore excluded from the AfA — so you must split the purchase price into a building share and a land share.

Important: If you sell a rented property within ten years of buying it, the gain can be subject to Spekulationssteuer as a private disposal (§ 23 EStG). Only after the ten-year period has passed is the sale gain generally tax-free — plan a sale accordingly.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting passed-on Nebenkosten. They are taxable income, not a mere pass-through item — failing to declare them risks an estimate by the Finanzamt (tax office).
• Deducting the repayment as a cost. Only the interest share (Schuldzinsen) of the loan is deductible, not the Tilgung (repayment).
• Depreciating the land. Only the building share may be depreciated under the AfA.
• Collecting receipts only at filing time. Without records kept all year, repair invoices and payment proofs go missing — and with them deductible Werbungskosten.
• Missing the deadline. Without a Steuerberater, 31 July of the following year is binding; late filing can trigger a Verspätungszuschlag (late-filing surcharge).

With HausMaus it's simpler

HausMaus records every rent payment and cost receipt per property across the year — cold rent, passed-on Nebenkosten, Schuldzinsen, repairs and running costs all land in the right place automatically. At year-end HausMaus produces a tax export (Anlage V / DATEV) in which the Vermietungseinkünfte (rental income) and Werbungskosten are already cleanly separated. So you — or your Steuerberater — have every figure for the Anlage V together, without sorting receipts at the deadline.