Bookkeeping & receipts · 6.8
Laptops & Co.: Deduct immediately or depreciate?
Short answer
Your GmbH can immediately deduct inexpensive purchases up to the GWG (low-value asset) limit. Thanks to a special rule, computers, laptops, accessories, and software may also be written off within one year even if they exceed this limit. Other expensive purchases must be depreciated over their useful life.
Key points
- Geringwertige Wirtschaftsgüter (GWG, low-value assets): fully deductible immediately as an operating expense up to the net threshold.
- Computers and software: The tax authorities permit a useful life of one year. A laptop costing €2,000 is thus fully depreciated in the year of purchase.
- Other purchases such as furniture or cameras: Depreciation over the useful life according to the official depreciation table (AfA-Tabelle).
- Sammelposten (compound item / pool depreciation): Alternatively, assets within a specific price range can be pooled and depreciated together over five years.
- You always recover Vorsteuer (input VAT) immediately, regardless of the depreciation method.
Figures & thresholds (as of November 2026)
- GWG threshold: €800 net
- Sammelposten: €250 to €1,000 net, over 5 years
- Computer hardware and software: 1-year useful life possible
- Movable fixed assets purchased from July 2025 to end of 2027: declining-balance depreciation of up to 30% possible
Legal basis
§ 6 Abs. 2 und 2a EStG§ 7 EStGBMF-Schreiben zur Nutzungsdauer von Computerhardware und Software
Continue
- Next video: Clearing account: When you pay for the GmbH or vice versa
- Related: What is an operating expense?
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