Bookkeeping & receipts · 6.5
What is an operating expense?
Short answer
Operating expenses (Betriebsausgaben) are all expenses caused by the business. They reduce your GmbH's profit and thus its taxes. Some expenses count only partially or not at all, and personal expenses have no place in a GmbH.
Key points
- Fully deductible: software, advertising, rent, salaries, consulting, travel expenses, office supplies, and much more.
- Partially deductible: business entertainment of partners at 70%.
- Limited: gifts to business partners only up to the tax-free limit per person and year.
- Not deductible: Körperschaftsteuer (corporate income tax) and Gewerbesteuer (trade tax) themselves, fines, and hidden profit distributions (verdeckte Gewinnausschüttungen).
- You need a receipt (Beleg) for every expense.
- More expensive assets used over a longer period are spread over their useful life.
Figures & thresholds (as of November 2026)
- Business entertainment: 70% deductible
- Gifts to business partners: exemption limit of €50 per recipient and year
Legal basis
§ 4 Abs. 4 und 5 EStG§ 8 KStG§ 10 KStG
Continue
- Next video: Business Meals: How Does the GmbH Deduct Entertainment Expenses?
- Related: Myth: "Writing it off means I get the money back."
With Pluto
← Back to topicPluto assigns your expenses to the correct accounts, including those that are only partially deductible.
Try it for free