An innovation in the tax law will in future allow users to write off their hardware such as laptops, expensive smartphones and cameras in full in the year of purchase.
Purchased computers and programs for your job or study? Then you can deduct the costs for hardware and software from your taxes. And according to the latest legislation, in full in the first year. Depreciation over several years is therefore no longer necessary. That goes from the To write of the Federal Ministry of Finance, to which Daniela Karbe-Gessler from the Association of Taxpayers points out.
In the past, immediate depreciation in the year of purchase was only possible if the net purchase price was no more than 800 euros. For purchases of computers and the like, this limit will no longer apply since 2021. This means that even high-priced hardware and software are no longer subject to three-year tax depreciation. The tax savings benefit employees and companies more quickly.
If certain hardware has already been written off via tax – i.e. there is still a residual book value for purchases made before December 31, 2020 in the 2021 tax year – this can now be written off in full. The tax savings can thus be brought forward in time.
Also read: Did you know what the tax office knows about you?
File receipts for income tax returns
Entrepreneurs can deduct the purchase of hardware and software as business expenses from taxes. Employees who buy a computer, smartphone, accessories or corresponding software for work-related reasons can state the costs as income-related expenses in their income tax return. “You should therefore keep receipts for the purchases,” says Karbe-Gessler. “Especially when the advertising expenses flat rate of 1000 euros is exceeded”.
However, it is mandatory to include the assets in an inventory. This regulation also applies retrospectively from January 1, 2021. The use of other depreciation methods for hardware and software, for example distribution over several years, is still possible in the tax and is subject to the right to choose.
With material from dpa