> 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/10086200-leasing-von-unbeweglichen-wirtschaftsguetern.md). # Leasing of immovable assets Help on the Immodio entry item Leasing immovable assets.
Use this category for **leasing payments for immovable assets**, as far as the asset leased serves your letting activity and the leasing payments can be treated for tax as **running expenditure**. This means in particular leasing contracts for **properties, land, buildings or parts of buildings**. Typical cases of application can be, for example: * **leasing a building** that you then let in whole or in part, * **leasing part of a building** for your letting activity, * **property leasing of a residential or commercial building**, * **leasing a garage or other building** used in connection with your let properties, * a genuine **sale-and-lease-back arrangement** in which a property continues to be used on the basis of a leasing contract after being sold, provided the tax conditions for treatment as running leasing are actually met. {% hint style="info" %} For landlords this category is more of a **special case**. Most running payments for someone else's properties are based on ordinary rental or lease agreements and then do not belong here. {% endhint %} #### **Leasing is not the same as ordinary rent or a lease** With leasing, an asset is made available to you for use in return for payment of an agreed leasing charge. Leasing contracts frequently also have a financing character and can contain, for example, a fixed basic term, a purchase option, an extension option or special provisions on the residual value. You should therefore first check **which contract actually exists**. As a basic rule: * **an ordinary rental agreement for a building or part of a building** → the appropriate category for **rent** * **a lease agreement for land or another immovable thing** → the appropriate category for **leases** * **a genuine leasing contract for land, a building or part of a building** → **"Leasing immovable assets"** * **leasing a vehicle, a machine, a device or another movable thing** → not in this category {% hint style="info" %} What is decisive is therefore not only that you pay monthly for using someone else's building. The contract or the invoice should actually show that this is **leasing**. {% endhint %} #### **What are immovable assets?** For landlords this category concerns in particular property-related assets such as: * **land**, * **buildings**, * **parts of buildings**, * and, where applicable, other land-related assets or rights. The following, by contrast, do not belong here, for example: * cars, * trailers, * machinery, * computers, * office equipment, * tools, * heaters or technical devices, as far as these are independent movable assets for tax purposes. With technical facilities inside a building in particular, the distinction can be important. Not every item firmly connected with a building is automatically treated for tax like the building. Separate rules apply to certain operating fixtures. #### **When are the leasing instalments deductible on a running basis?** Where the asset leased is economically connected with your letting, the expenditure it causes can in principle be taken into account for income from letting and leasing. Under Section 9 EStG, income-related expenditure is expenditure to **acquire, secure and maintain income**. It is therefore a condition that the leasing actually serves your generation of income. The point that is particularly important for tax is, however: **The asset leased must not be attributed to you for tax if the whole leasing instalment is to be entered simply as running leasing expenditure.** Where economic ownership remains with the lessor, the running leasing instalments are in principle treated as the lessee's expenditure. **Example: a building is leased and then let** You conclude a property leasing contract for a building. The monthly leasing instalment: **€4,000** The building is sublet entirely to various tenants. Under the specific contractual arrangement, the building remains attributable for tax to the lessor. The running **€4,000** can then in principle be entered in the category **"Leasing immovable assets"**. With twelve monthly payments, the calendar year gives: **12 × €4,000 = €48,000** This **€48,000** is directly connected with letting the building. #### **Where the asset is attributed to you instead** Where the building is attributed for tax **to you as the lessee** because of the contractual arrangement, not every full leasing instalment may simply be treated as running leasing expenditure. Economically the transaction is then more comparable to a financing or an acquisition. In that case the tax authorities in principle provide for the leasing instalment to be split into: * an **interest and cost element** and * a **repayment element** . The interest and cost element is in principle expenditure. The repayment element, by contrast, is not a running expense that can simply be deducted in full for tax. The asset itself is to be treated according to its attribution for tax. With a building that means in particular that its depreciable share is in principle taken into account through the **building depreciation**. **Land, by contrast, is not depreciable.** With property leasing too, a separation between the **land and the building** can therefore become necessary. #### **The building and the land can be assessed separately** With property leasing one special feature is particularly important: The tax authorities require the attribution for tax of the **building and the land to be assessed separately**. That is relevant because the building and the land are treated differently for tax. A building can in principle be taken into account through depreciation. **Land, by contrast, is not depreciated.** With a leasing arrangement too, an arrangement economically equivalent to buying land may therefore not lead to the whole value of the property including the land being taken into account indirectly as expenditure straight away through the leasing instalment. #### **Examine sale-and-lease-back particularly closely** With **sale-and-lease-back** you sell a property and then lease it back from the buyer. Running leasing payments can thereby continue to arise even though the property previously belonged to you. This transaction should not be entered merely on the basis of the description "leasing instalment". Questions can become relevant here, among other things, about: * whether the sale is recognised for tax, * the transfer of economic ownership, * the subsequent attribution of the land and building, * the composition of the leasing instalments, * and possible tax consequences of the earlier sale. Only once it is established that the asset is actually attributable to the new lessor after the sale and that the subsequent payments are running leasing expenditure does the leasing instalment concerned belong in this category. #### **Do not enter in this category** The following in particular do not belong here: * **ordinary rent payments** for a building or office, * **lease payments** for land, garden areas or other areas leased, * **leasing cars or other vehicles**, * **leasing computers, furniture, machinery or other equipment**, * **refundable deposits and security payments**, * the **purchase price on exercising a purchase option**, * the **repayment element** where the leased object is attributed to you for tax as the economic owner, * separately billed **heating, water, cleaning, insurance or other operating costs**, where there is a more suitable category for them.