AfA (Absetzung für Abnutzung)
Depreciation of the building portion of a rental property.
§7 Abs. 4 EStG
AfA is the German tax term for depreciation. For residential rentals, it lets you deduct 2 %, 2.5 %, or 3 % of the documented building portion of your purchase price each year, depending mainly on building type and completion year. Land (Grund und Boden) cannot be depreciated. The workflow starts by supporting the land/building split, then adds qualifying acquisition costs, chooses the statutory rate and calculates the tax-year amount. For example, if evidence supports an 80 % building share on a 300 000 € apartment, a 2 % rate gives 4 800 € full-year AfA. The 80 % is an input, not a general default.
Last reviewed: by Yann Lephay.