> 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/10081100-kaltmiete-von-vermieteten-garagen-inklusive-19-umsatzsteuer.md). # Base rent for rented garages (including 19% VAT) Help on the Immodio entry item Base rent for let garages (including 19% VAT).
Use this category for **rental income from a garage or parking space let independently where the letting is made with 19% VAT**. Typical cases are, for example: * a garage let to a third party independently of an apartment, * an individual parking space the tenant rents exclusively to park their vehicle, * an underground parking space without an associated residential letting, * a garage let to a person other than the apartment's tenant, * several parking spaces or garages let separately. The letting of places for parking vehicles is expressly excluded from the general VAT exemption for lettings of land. An independent letting of a parking space or garage is therefore in principle subject to the general rate of VAT of **19%**. #### A garage let separately is in principle subject to VAT Lettings of land are normally exempt from VAT under Section 4 no. 12 of the German VAT Act. The act does, however, expressly make an exception for **the letting of places for parking vehicles**. This means: You let only a garage for: **€100 net per month** On that: **€19 of VAT** The tenant pays: **€119 gross** This rental income can be recorded in this category. Unlike a commercial letting subject to VAT, **no option for VAT under Section 9 of the German VAT Act is in principle necessary** here. The independent letting of the vehicle parking space is already excluded from the exemption by the act itself. #### Important: a garage together with an apartment can be exempt from VAT This category may **not automatically** be used merely because a rental agreement contains the word "garage" or "parking space". Where the garage is let together with an apartment exempt from VAT and is merely an **ancillary service to the letting of the apartment**, for VAT purposes it in principle follows the exempt letting of the apartment. What is important here is that it is the same landlord and the same tenant and that there is a sufficient spatial connection between the apartment and the parking space. A spatial connection exists in particular where the parking space is in the same building complex or in the immediate vicinity of the apartment. #### Example: an apartment and a garage to the same tenant You let to the same tenant: the apartment: **€800 per month** a garage in the same building complex: **€70 per month** The garage serves the apartment's tenant as a parking space. Letting the garage is then in principle an **ancillary service to the exempt letting of the apartment**. In this case in principle **no 19% VAT** is levied on the €70 of garage rent. {% hint style="warning" %} This income therefore does **not** belong in the category dealt with here, "Base rent for let garages (including 19% VAT)". {% endhint %} #### A separate garage rental agreement does not automatically make the garage subject to VAT The apartment and the garage do not necessarily have to be in the same rental agreement. There can also be **two separate agreements** and the garage still remains an ancillary service to the exempt letting of the apartment. The agreements may even be concluded at different times. **Example:** * You have let an apartment since January. In June a parking space in the same building becomes free. * The apartment's tenant therefore concludes a **separate parking space rental agreement** with you in June. * As long as **the same landlord** lets a parking space belonging spatially to the apartment to **the same apartment tenant**, letting the parking space can still be an ancillary service to the exempt letting of the apartment. #### A different tenant = regularly an independent letting of a garage The position is different where the apartment and the garage are let to **different people**. **Example:** * The apartment's rental agreement is with one person. The garage is let separately to their son living in the same household. * Although both people live in the same household, letting the garage is an **independent service subject to VAT**, because the apartment and the parking space are not let to the same contracting party. #### Different landlords also prevent an ancillary service The same applies on the landlord's side. **Example:** * A GmbH lets an apartment. The GmbH's managing director lets their private garage to the same apartment tenant. * Although the apartment and the garage are in the same building complex, there are two independent letting services, because **not the same person** is the contracting party on the landlord's side. * The managing director's letting of the garage is therefore in principle to be assessed separately for VAT. #### A spatial connection is also necessary Even where the landlord and tenant are identical, an exempt ancillary service in principle requires a spatial connection between the apartment and the parking space. **Example:** * a parking space on the same plot, * the residential building's underground car park, * a garage in the same building complex, * a parking space in the immediate vicinity, * a central garage facility for a residential complex belonging together. {% hint style="info" %} A garage several kilometres away with no economic connection to the apartment, for example, should therefore not automatically be treated as an exempt ancillary service solely because the contracting parties are identical. {% endhint %} #### A parking space rented by the landlord from a third party **A special case**: you own an apartment building without parking spaces of its own and rent parking spaces on a neighbouring plot from another landowner and then sublet them to your own apartment tenants. The letting of the parking spaces by the third party landowner **to you** is in principle **subject to VAT**. Your subsequent subletting to your apartment tenants can, by contrast, be an **ancillary service to the exempt letting of the apartments** where there is corresponding spatial proximity. #### Carports and open parking spaces can also be covered Section 4 no. 12 of the German VAT Act speaks not only of closed garages but generally of: **places for parking vehicles.** The same basic VAT logic can therefore apply in particular to: * open car parking spaces, * underground parking spaces, * parking boxes, * garages, * comparable areas made available for parking vehicles. {% hint style="info" %} What is decisive is making an area available for parking a vehicle and not whether that area is structurally fully enclosed. {% endhint %} #### The actual use of the garage is not decisive on its own It is also important that what in principle matters is **which use is granted by contract**. Where an area is let as a vehicle parking space, it is not decisive whether the tenant actually parks a vehicle there every day. **Example:** You expressly let "**garage no. 4 as a car parking space".** The tenant sometimes stores bicycles, tyres or other items there. That actual use alone does not, however, automatically change the letting of the parking space as agreed. The position can be different where the room is expressly let **not as a garage or vehicle parking space** but as a pure storage room, for example. The VAT treatment then has to be reassessed according to the letting service actually agreed. #### Record operating costs separately This category should be used exclusively for the **base rent of the garage or parking space**. Where you also charge running operating costs, for example, they should not be included in the base rent. Enter them in the category "[Advance payment of ancillary costs / operating costs for garages and other premises (19%)](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10144900-vorauszahlung-nebenkosten-betriebskosten-fuer-garagen-und-andere-raeume-19.md)". #### Example The garage base rent: **€100 net** the agreed advance payment of ancillary costs: **€20 net** A distinction should then in principle be drawn: * **€100 → the garage base rent 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)" * **€20 → the operating costs in the category** "[Advance payment of ancillary costs / operating costs for garages and other premises (19%)](/en/anleitung/einnahmen-und-ausgaben/buchhaltung-erweiterung/10144900-vorauszahlung-nebenkosten-betriebskosten-fuer-garagen-und-andere-raeume-19.md)". plus the VAT applicable in each case. #### Assignment in Immodio For the **assignment select Owner**. It is currently not possible to create an individual garage as a tenancy in Immodio. #### Do not enter here Do not use this category in particular for: * a garage let as an ancillary service together with an exempt apartment to the same tenant, * a parking space belonging spatially to the apartment and let to the same apartment tenant, * garages expressly let as a storage room and not as a vehicle parking space, without a prior VAT assessment, * garages used by the owner themselves. #### Which documents should you keep? Keep in particular: * the garage or parking space rental agreement, * the associated apartment rental agreement, where applicable, * evidence of who is the tenant of the apartment and who is the tenant of the garage, * details of the location of the garage or parking space, * documentation of whether the apartment and the parking space belong together spatially, * bank statements for the rent payments, * documents on the VAT treatment, * evidence of the application or non-application of the small business rule, where applicable, * operating cost statements, where additional costs are charged. Where the same tenant rents both the apartment and the garage in particular, it should remain comprehensible from the documents **why the letting of the garage was treated as exempt or as subject to VAT**.