> 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/10027600-einnahmen-aus-der-vermietung-von-garagen.md). # Income from renting out garages Help on the Immodio entry item Income from letting garages.
Use this category for **VAT-exempt rental income from letting a garage or parking space** where letting the garage or parking space is an ancillary service to a VAT-exempt letting of land or residential space for VAT purposes. A typical case is a garage or parking space that you make available to **the same tenant together with their apartment**. {% hint style="warning" %} Base rent for let garages on which VAT is payable is entered in the category "[**Base rent for let garages (including 19% VAT)**](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10081100-kaltmiete-von-vermieteten-garagen-inklusive-19-umsatzsteuer.md)". {% endhint %} ### When is letting a garage exempt from VAT? In principle VAT law first contains a special feature for garages and parking spaces: The letting of places for parking vehicles is expressly **excluded from the general VAT exemption for letting land**. A garage or parking space let independently is therefore in principle subject to VAT. That applies regardless of whether it is a single garage, an underground car park, a multi-storey car park or an open parking space. There is, however, an important exception where the garage or parking space is merely an **ancillary service to a VAT-exempt letting of land**. The garage then shares the VAT fate of the main service and is likewise exempt. ### The typical case: an apartment and a garage to the same tenant You let an apartment to a tenant for €900 per month. You also let the same tenant a garage on the same plot for €80 per month. Letting the garage can be treated for VAT as an ancillary service to the VAT-exempt residential letting. The Federal Ministry of Finance itself uses a corresponding example: where an apartment and a parking space on the same plot are made available by the same landlord to the same tenant, letting the parking space is an ancillary service to letting the apartment. The €80 of monthly garage rent can then be recorded under this category as **VAT-exempt garage rent**. ### A separate garage rental agreement The apartment and the garage do not necessarily have to be in a single rental agreement. Under the VAT application decree, letting a garage or parking space can also be a VAT-exempt ancillary service where **two separate agreements** were concluded for the apartment and the parking space. The agreements may even have been made at different times. Two conditions in particular are decisive: * the apartment or VAT-exempt let land and the garage are let between **the same contracting parties**. * there is a **spatial connection** between the apartment or land and the garage. Under the Federal Ministry of Finance's view, a spatial connection exists in particular where the parking space is part of the same building complex or is in the immediate vicinity of the let property. ### An apartment to the father and the garage to the son The landlord lets the apartment to a tenant. The associated parking space, on the other hand, is let to the tenant's son living in the household. Although the son and the apartment's tenant live together, letting the parking space is **independently subject to VAT**, because the contracting parties are not identical. For Immodio that means: **An apartment + garage to the same person →** this VAT-exempt category, where applicable **An apartment to person A + a garage to person B →** in principle the garage category subject to VAT, with the category "[Base rent for let garages (including 19% VAT)](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10081100-kaltmiete-von-vermieteten-garagen-inklusive-19-umsatzsteuer.md)". ### A special feature: small businesses A garage let separately can in principle be subject to VAT, but no VAT may nevertheless be levied because of the **small business rule under Section 19 of the German VAT Act**. Since 2025 the exemption for small businesses applies in principle where total turnover **did not exceed €25,000** in the previous calendar year and **does not exceed €100,000** in the current calendar year, as far as the other conditions are met. {% hint style="warning" %} That is, however, **a different ground of exemption** than the one for this category. {% endhint %} ### Do not enter a deposit as garage rent Where the garage tenant pays a refundable deposit, that is not initially rental income. Only where a rent deposit is later set off against outstanding rent or other justified claims, for example, and therefore not repaid, can it become income for tax. The deposit originally received should therefore be recorded through the corresponding Immodio deposit category "[Deposits received](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10033000-erhaltene-kautionen.md)" and not as garage rent. ### Assignment in Immodio Select **Assignment → Owner** and then the owner to whom the garage rent is attributable for tax. ### Do not enter here Do not use this category in particular for: * garages let independently with 19% VAT, * parking spaces independently subject to VAT, * garage rents from a tenant other than the apartment's tenant, where there is therefore no ancillary service, * advance payments of operating costs, * additional payments of operating costs, * rent deposits, * buying or producing a garage, * garage repairs, * private payments received, * garages let separately by a small business where the exemption follows exclusively from Section 19 of the German VAT Act. ### Which documents should you keep? For the correct classification for tax, the rental agreement or garage rental agreement, proof of payment and, where the garage is let together with residential space, the apartment's rental agreement in particular should be kept. For the VAT exemption as an ancillary service, the following in particular should be comprehensible: * who lets the apartment, * who lets the garage, * who is the tenant of the apartment, * who is the tenant of the garage, * where the apartment and the garage are located, * that there is a sufficient spatial connection. With separate agreements in particular, this information is important, because what is decisive is not the number of agreements but the economic connection and the identity of the contracting parties.