AfA Calculator: Calculate Property Depreciation and Tax Savings

Use this calculator to quickly find out how much tax you could save by proving a shorter remaining useful life. Enter your purchase data in Tab 1 – purchase price, year of construction and ancillary costs. The calculator derives your depreciation base and shows you in a direct comparison how much additional depreciation an appraisal could unlock. Tab 5 factors in your personal tax rate for a realistic savings estimate.

1 - Purchase details

Purchase price

EUR

Federal State

Transfer of Benefits & Burdensfrom the purchase contract

Included inventoryKitchen, Furniture etc.

EUR

2 - Additional purchase costs

[-]

Real estate transfer tax (5%)

€21,000

automatically calculated

Notary & land register

= €8,400

Brokerage costs

= €14,994

Other additional costs

EUR

Total additional purchase costs€44,394

3 - Land share

Property and land sharefrom total purchase price + additional costs

Building share (AfA base, your share)€348,296

4 - Property & remaining useful life

Construction year

Living/Usable Area

Valuation Date

Remaining useful life (Appraisal) - AfA rate: 5%

5 Y.20 Y.80 Y.

Already depreciated

Override manually

€26,122

Automatically computed · 3.8 years × 2% standard AfA (years are calculated from purchase date to valuation date)

5 - Tax situation

Personal tax rate

8%42%54%

Tax year

Tax year 2026 uses RND AfA (5%)

Subject to church tax · 8 % (Baden-Württemberg)

Church tax is calculated as 8% of income tax (not of income).

Effective total tax rate: 45.36%

Yearly extra savings

€4,147

per year due to appraisal

Yearly depreciation

Legal (2%)€6,966

With Appraisal (5%)€16,109

Tax savings without appraisal

per year

€3,160

Tax savings with appraisal

per year

€7,307

Appraisal amortization

3 mon.

Advantage (10 years)

€41,472

Advantage (20 years)

€82,943

Purchase price breakdown

Purchase price

€420,000

+ Additional costs

+ €44,394

- Property share

- €116,099

- Already depreciated

- €26,122

Building share (your share)

€348,296

Remaining book value (AfA base)

€322,173

Appraisal price from €890. No substitute for tax advice.

Building Depreciation Explained

What is building depreciation (AfA)?

When you rent out a property, you can claim the annual loss in value of the building against tax – as depreciation (AfA, Absetzung für Abnutzung). AfA reduces your rental income and directly lowers your tax liability. Only the building portion is depreciable – not the land. Land is considered non-depreciable under German tax law.

How is AfA calculated?

The legislator sets a standard useful life – typically 50 years for residential buildings (2% per year). If the actual remaining useful life of your property is shorter, you can claim a higher depreciation rate. This requires an accepted appraisal pursuant to §7 para. 4 sentence 2 EStG (BFH ruling IX R 25/19 of 28.07.2021).

What are the acquisition costs?

The AfA basis is not simply the purchase price, but the total acquisition costs of the building. These consist of the purchase price (excluding land) plus all ancillary acquisition costs attributable to the building:

Notary and land registry fees
Real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer)
Estate agent commission
Other acquisition costs (e.g. travel costs, appraisal costs in foreclosure proceedings)

AfA Calculator: Calculate Property Depreciation and Tax Savings

1 - Purchase details

Purchase price

EUR

Federal State

Transfer of Benefits & Burdensfrom the purchase contract

Included inventoryKitchen, Furniture etc.

EUR

2 - Additional purchase costs

[-]

Real estate transfer tax (5%)

€21,000

automatically calculated

Notary & land register

= €8,400

Brokerage costs

= €14,994

Other additional costs

EUR

Total additional purchase costs€44,394

3 - Land share

Property and land sharefrom total purchase price + additional costs

Building share (AfA base, your share)€348,296

4 - Property & remaining useful life

Construction year

Living/Usable Area

Valuation Date

Remaining useful life (Appraisal) - AfA rate: 5%

5 Y.20 Y.80 Y.

Already depreciated

Override manually

€26,122

Automatically computed · 3.8 years × 2% standard AfA (years are calculated from purchase date to valuation date)

5 - Tax situation

Personal tax rate

8%42%54%

Tax year

Tax year 2026 uses RND AfA (5%)

Subject to church tax · 8 % (Baden-Württemberg)

Church tax is calculated as 8% of income tax (not of income).

Effective total tax rate: 45.36%

Yearly extra savings

€4,147

per year due to appraisal

Yearly depreciation

Legal (2%)€6,966

With Appraisal (5%)€16,109

Tax savings without appraisal

per year

€3,160

Tax savings with appraisal

per year

€7,307

Appraisal amortization

3 mon.

Advantage (10 years)

€41,472

Advantage (20 years)

€82,943

Purchase price breakdown

Purchase price

€420,000

+ Additional costs

+ €44,394

- Property share

- €116,099

- Already depreciated

- €26,122

Building share (your share)

€348,296

Remaining book value (AfA base)

€322,173

Appraisal price from €890. No substitute for tax advice.

Building Depreciation Explained

What is building depreciation (AfA)?

How is AfA calculated?

What are the acquisition costs?

Notary and land registry fees
Real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer)
Estate agent commission
Other acquisition costs (e.g. travel costs, appraisal costs in foreclosure proceedings)