> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.immodio.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.immodio.app/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10023400-bezahlte-kautionen.md). # Deposits paid Help on the Immodio entry item Deposits paid.
Use this category where **you yourself pay a refundable deposit or security** and thereby acquire a claim to later repayment. For landlords that arises, for example, where premises, devices or other items are rented for their own letting activity and the contracting party requires a deposit for them. ### What can be entered here? Typical cases of application can be: * a deposit for a rented office used for the property management, * a deposit for a rented storage room, * a deposit for an additional rented garage, * a refundable security for rented devices or machinery, * a refundable deposit to an energy or utility company, * other security payments where you in principle have a claim to repayment after the contract ends. {% hint style="info" %} What is decisive is that it really is a **refundable security**. The payment must therefore not remain with the recipient permanently as long as no event triggering the security occurs. {% endhint %} ### The deposit is not initially an expense in the tax sense Although money leaves your bank account, this is not automatically income-related expenditure for tax purposes. The reason: you do not initially lose the economic value. Your claim to repayment of the deposit takes the place of the bank balance. The deposit paid is therefore treated in accounting terms as an asset or a receivable. Even with a statement of income and expenditure, paying a refundable rent deposit does not in principle lead to an immediate deduction of business expenses. #### Example You rent a small storage room for managing your properties and the landlord requires: **monthly rent: €400**\ **deposit: €1,200** The running rent of €400 can, where there is a corresponding connection with your letting activity, be an expense relevant for tax. The deposit of €1,200, on the other hand, is recorded under **"Deposits paid"**. It is not initially an item of income-related expenditure, because you have a claim to repayment of €1,200 against the landlord. Where you later receive the deposit back in full, that in principle does not create new taxable income either. The original receivable is merely converted back into money. In simplified terms: **paying the deposit → a receivable arises** **receiving the deposit back → the receivable is settled** ### What happens where the deposit is not repaid in full? Where the deposit is wholly or partly retained at the end of the contract, it has to be checked **why** it was retained. It can be set off, for example, because of unpaid rent, ancillary costs, damage or another claim of the contracting party. The amount retained should then not simply remain in the deposit account permanently. Instead the receivable has to be released and the amount classified according to the actual economic reason. Whether income-related expenditure arises from this for tax depends on the specific facts and in particular on the connection with your letting activity. A distinction can be drawn, for example, between the security payment, which is initially neutral in profit terms, and a later definitive loss or a set-off. #### Example You paid a deposit of €1,500 for an office used exclusively for property management. After the contract ends you only receive €1,300 back. The landlord retains €200 because of an outstanding and justified statement of ancillary costs. Then: **€1,300 is treated as a repayment of the deposit** and the remaining **€200 is classified according to the underlying claim for ancillary costs**. The €200 should not simply remain as a "deposit". ### Do not confuse with deposits received For landlords this distinction is particularly important. Where **your tenant pays you** a rent deposit, it is not a "deposit paid" but a **deposit received**. Use the separate category in Immodio for that: **"**[**Deposits received**](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10033000-erhaltene-kautionen.md)**"** ### Where the deposit is set off later Where the deposit is later used to settle an actual invoice or claim, the further treatment for tax and, where applicable, for VAT depends on **that underlying transaction**. The deposit can be set off against outstanding rent, a claim for repairs or ancillary costs, for example. The original security payment is then no longer decisive but rather the claim against which it was set off. ### A connection with the letting is necessary Even though a deposit is not initially income-related expenditure, it should only be recorded in the Immodio accounts where there is a connection with the letting activity managed there. A private deposit does not belong in the accounts of your let properties. Example: You let several apartments and rent a store for files and spare parts to manage them. A deposit paid for it can be part of the letting activity. Where you pay the deposit for the apartment you live in privately, on the other hand, there is in principle no connection with your letting income. ### Assignment in Immodio Select: **Assignment → Owner** and then the owner who paid the deposit and to whom the claim to repayment belongs. ### Not recoverable from the tenant A deposit you have paid is **not an operating cost item** of your tenants. It is neither a running operating expense of the property nor a recoverable service. Rather, the payment initially creates a claim to repayment of your own. The **"Recoverable in the operating cost statement"** switch should therefore stay disabled. ### No direct entry as income-related expenditure in annex V As paying out a refundable deposit is not initially income-related expenditure, the deposit amount paid does not simply belong as an expense in a line for income-related expenditure in annex V. Only where the deposit is definitively lost or is set off against a specific claim relating to the letting does it have to be checked which treatment for tax results from the underlying facts. ### Do not enter here **Deposits you receive from your own tenants** in particular do not belong in this category, nor do ordinary rent and advance rent payments, advance payments of operating costs, prepayments for goods or services, guarantees without a cash deposit being paid, private deposits with no connection to the letting or definitive costs where there is no claim to repayment from the outset. ### Which documents should you keep? Keep the contract or the deposit agreement, proof of payment, the amount and date of the deposit, the recipient, the purpose of the security payment and documents on the later repayment or set-off. The documents should show in particular that the payment is **refundable**. Only that makes it possible to see why it was initially treated as a deposit and not as running expenditure.