Short-term rental on Airbnb — Anlage V, Anlage V-FeWo, or business?

1. The DAC7 reality and your three tax options

The European DAC7 directive forces platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo to report your hosting revenue directly to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt). The German tax office matches this platform data against your annual Einkommensteuererklärung (income tax return). If you omit your short-term rental income, the Finanzamt already has the numbers and will trigger an audit for tax evasion. You must declare every euro you earn. German tax law divides short-term rentals into three distinct categories. Your classification dictates your forms, your deductible expenses, and your tax rates. First, you have private asset management (Vermögensverwaltung) under § 21 EStG. You report this income on Anlage V and the supplementary Anlage V-FeWo. Second, you have a commercial business (Gewerbebetrieb) under § 15 EStG. You report this on Anlage G and face potential trade tax obligations. Third, you have a mixed-use scenario where you split the property between private holidays and paying guests. You must identify your exact category before you open ELSTER to file your return.

2. Asset management vs. commercial business

The Bundesfinanzhof (Federal Fiscal Court) established strict criteria to separate private landlords from commercial operators. A standard long-term rental is always classified as Vermögensverwaltung. A short-term rental (Kurzzeitvermietung) generally remains Vermögensverwaltung if you merely hand over the keys and clean the apartment between different guest stays. The Finanzamt actively looks for signs of a Beherbergungsbetrieb (accommodation business). You cross into commercial territory if your property operates like a hotel or a pension. The court examines your ancillary services. Do you provide daily room cleaning? Do you serve breakfast? Do you operate a reception desk? Do you change bed linen during a guest's stay? If you answer yes to these questions, you operate a Gewerbebetrieb. The physical location also influences the decision. If your apartment sits in a building equipped with hotel-like infrastructure or shared commercial amenities, the tax office assumes a commercial intent. You cannot simply pick the classification you prefer. The actual daily services you provide dictate your legal tax status.

3. Filing Anlage V and Anlage V-FeWo

If your property qualifies as private asset management, you declare the income under § 21 EStG. You start with the standard Anlage V form. You check the box in Zeile 10 to flag the property as a Ferienwohnung (holiday apartment). You do not list your detailed short-term rental income in the standard Einnahmen section (Zeilen 13 to 32) of Anlage V. Instead, you use the dedicated supplementary form called Anlage V-FeWo. This form captures the high-frequency mechanics of holiday rentals. You declare your gross Mieteinnahmen (rental income). You deduct your Werbungskosten (deductible expenses) such as platform commissions, cleaning fees, and electricity. You can deduct your full annual expenses only if you intend to rent the property year-round. The Finanzamt applies a local comparison test. Your rented days must reach at least 75 % of the average rented days for holiday homes in your specific municipality. If you fall below this 75 % threshold, the tax office suspects a lack of profit intention (Liebhaberei). They will demand a Totalüberschussprognose (total profit forecast) over a 30-year period to prove you operate the rental to make money, not as a subsidized hobby.

4. Hotel-like services trigger commercial tax

If you provide hotel-like services, your rental income falls under § 15 EStG. You are no longer a private landlord. You operate a Gewerbebetrieb. You must register your business (Gewerbeanmeldung) with the local trade office (Gewerbeamt) in the German city where the property is located. You do not file Anlage V or Anlage V-FeWo. You file Anlage G to report commercial income. You must prepare a formal profit and loss statement (Einnahmenüberschussrechnung or EÜR). Commercial status triggers Gewerbesteuer (trade tax). The law grants a tax-free allowance of 24 500 € for trade tax. If your commercial profit stays below this limit, you pay zero trade tax. If your profit exceeds 24 500 €, the municipality levies a specific local tax rate based on their multiplier (Hebesatz). Non-residents face the exact same trade tax rules as residents. Your limited tax liability (beschränkte Steuerpflicht) under § 49 EStG covers commercial operations permanently situated in Germany. Commercial status also destroys your tax-free exit strategy. Private landlords can sell tax-free after a ten-year holding period. Commercial properties remain business assets indefinitely. The final sale always triggers income tax on the capital gain.

5. The VAT trap and the 25 000 € Kleinunternehmer threshold

Income tax and Umsatzsteuer (VAT) follow completely different rulebooks. Standard long-term residential rent is exempt from VAT. Short-term accommodation is subject to VAT at a reduced rate of 7 %. You must assess your VAT liability before you list your property online. The law provides a safe harbor for small operators (Kleinunternehmer) under § 19 UStG. Since the 2025 Wachstumschancengesetz reform, the thresholds are 25 000 € for the prior calendar year and 100 000 € for the current year. If you stay below the 25 000 € prior-year limit and do not expect to breach 100 000 € this year, you do not need to charge VAT to your guests. You issue invoices without VAT and you cannot claim input VAT (Vorsteuer) on your expenses. If you exceed these thresholds, you must register for VAT. You add 7 % VAT to your nightly rate. You file regular advance VAT returns (Umsatzsteuervoranmeldungen) via ELSTER and transfer the collected tax to the Finanzamt. In return, you deduct the 19 % input VAT you pay on furniture, renovations, and professional cleaning services. You declare the VAT you receive from guests as income. You declare the VAT you pay to the Finanzamt as a deductible expense. They cancel each other out in your final income tax calculation, but the cash flow timing requires strict management.

6. Local taxes: Kurtaxe and Übernachtungssteuer

Many German municipalities levy a tourist tax (Kurtaxe) or a city tax (Übernachtungssteuer). The local city council sets the rates and rules, not the federal tax office. The city requires you to collect this tax directly from your guests. You must transfer the collected funds to the local municipality on a monthly or quarterly basis. These local taxes directly impact your income tax return. The money you collect from guests counts as taxable Einnahmen. The money you transfer to the city counts as a deductible Werbungskosten expense. You must report both figures accurately. You cannot simply ignore them because the net effect is zero. If you fail to declare the collected city tax as income, your gross revenue appears artificially low. The Finanzamt cross-checks your declared revenue against the gross data Airbnb submits via DAC7. A mismatch immediately triggers an audit. You record these local taxes in the specific sections for ancillary costs and public levies on your Anlage V-FeWo.

7. Mixed use: Splitting private and short-term rental

Many non-resident owners buy a German property for personal holidays and rent it out to cover the running costs. This mixed use complicates your tax return. The Finanzamt strictly separates private living expenses from income-generating expenses. You cannot deduct costs related to your personal use. You must split your Werbungskosten based on time. If you use the apartment yourself for 30 days and rent it out for 120 days, you cannot simply claim 80 % of your annual costs. You must account for the empty days. The tax office allocates empty days based on your proven intention. If the property was actively listed and available for rent during the empty days, those days count toward the rental allocation. If you blocked the calendar for personal use, those days count as private. You must maintain a detailed logbook (Belegungsplan). The logbook tracks guest stays, personal stays, and vacant periods. Without a precise logbook, the Finanzamt will estimate your personal use, usually to your disadvantage. You calculate the exact percentage of rental days over the 365-day year and apply this ratio to your annual depreciation, mortgage interest, and utility costs.

8. Worked Example 1: Pure holiday rental

Let us calculate a pure holiday rental under § 21 EStG. You own an apartment in Berlin. You bought it in 2023. The building basis for depreciation (Gebäudeanteil) is 200 000 €. The AfA rate is 3.0 % for new residential buildings completed from 2023 onward (§ 7 Abs. 4 EStG). Your annual AfA is 6 000 €. You rent the apartment exclusively via Airbnb. You do not use it personally. You provide no hotel services. You stay below the 25 000 € Kleinunternehmer threshold. You generate 14 000 € in gross rental income. Your direct operating expenses (platform fees, cleaning, electricity, internet) total 4 500 €. Your mortgage interest (Schuldzinsen) is 3 500 €. You report the mortgage interest in Zeilen 46–48 of your Anlage V, the AfA in Zeilen 33–35, and the specific holiday details on Anlage V-FeWo.

• Gross Airbnb Income | 14 000 € | Taxable (§ 21 EStG)
• Building AfA (3.0 %) | 6 000 € | Deductible (Zeilen 33–35)
• Operating Expenses | 4 500 € | Deductible
• Mortgage Interest | 3 500 € | Deductible (Zeilen 46–48)
• Net Taxable Profit | 0 € | No income tax due

9. Worked Example 2: Commercial Airbnb

Let us calculate a commercial operation under § 15 EStG. You own a multi-unit building in Munich. You operate five apartments as short-term rentals. You employ a receptionist and offer daily room cleaning. The Finanzamt classifies this as a Gewerbebetrieb. You generate 90 000 € in gross turnover. You exceed the VAT threshold. You must charge 7 % VAT on your accommodation services. Your net turnover is 84 112 €. You deduct 45 000 € in operating expenses, including staff wages, depreciation, and mortgage interest. Your commercial profit is 39 112 €. You exceed the 24 500 € trade tax allowance by 14 612 €. You must pay Gewerbesteuer on this excess amount. The exact trade tax depends on the Munich multiplier (Hebesatz). You report this profit on Anlage G. You cannot use Anlage V. You must also file an annual VAT return (Umsatzsteuererklärung). This structure requires rigorous commercial bookkeeping and continuous advance tax filings.

10. How non-residents report this to the Finanzamt

Non-residents face limited tax liability (beschränkte Steuerpflicht) under § 49 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 EStG for income derived from German real estate. The standard tax-free allowance (Grundfreibetrag of 11 784 € in 2025) does not apply to non-residents. The German tax office taxes your first euro of profit at the entry rate of 14 %. You must file your Einkommensteuererklärung electronically via ELSTER. The standard filing deadline is 31 July of the following year. You need a valid ELSTER-Zertifikat to submit the forms. You must select the correct tax office. Finanzamt Neubrandenburg handles many non-resident cases, but your specific tax office depends on the property location and your country of residence. You must compile your income and expense data carefully to match the DAC7 platform reports. Anlage V Easy turns those numbers into an ELSTER preparation report with line-by-line Zeile mapping in about 10 minutes for €79. You then log into your own ELSTER account and copy each value into the matching Zeile — Anlage V Easy never submits or uploads anything to ELSTER on your behalf, so your credentials and final filing stay under your control.