If you live in the house yourself, no. If you let it out, yes, the full premium counts as income-related expenses (Werbungskosten) on the Anlage V form. If only part is let, or a recognised home office sits there, you deduct the floor-area share. On a 500 euro premium at a 35 percent tax rate that is about 175 euros back.
German building insurance premiums and the tax effect they can produce at most, using the same figures as our German page.
Example
Typical range
Detached house of 100 square metres, basic cover
roughly 90 to 150 euros a year
Typical detached house with solid cover
roughly 400 to 500 euros a year
Older house or exposed location
roughly 800 to 1,000 euros a year and above
Tax effect on an owner occupied home
0 euros
Tax effect when let, 500 euro premium, tax rate 14 to 42 percent
roughly 70 to 210 euros a year
Premium ranges taken from publicly quoted examples, September 2026.
The tax effect is our own sample calculation without solidarity surcharge and church tax and
therefore a guide value from quoting practice.
Your tax adviser decides the individual case.
Worked example
Semi-detached house, one half let
You live in the lower flat and let the upper one. The premium covers the whole building.
Premium for the whole building
520 euros a year
Let living area
90 out of 180 square metres, so 50 percent
Deductible as Werbungskosten
260 euros
Personal tax rate
35 percent
Income tax saved
about 91 euros
Out of a 520 euro premium about 91 euros come back through tax. The half you live in yourself returns nothing, and no cheaper tariff changes that.
Living in the house yourself: there is no box for it
Building insurance (Wohngebäudeversicherung) protects a thing, namely your house. German income tax only recognises a limited set of insurance premiums as Vorsorgeaufwendungen, and those cover people: health, long term care, accident, liability. Insuring bricks is not on that list.
The second reason is simpler. A home you live in yourself produces no taxable income, and without income there can be no income-related expenses. For most owners the question ends right there. We would rather say that plainly than send you looking for a form that does not exist.
Letting the property: the full premium counts
If you rent the house or flat out, the premium is fully deductible against your rental income (Einkünfte aus Vermietung und Verpachtung). What matters is the year you actually paid, not the year the cover runs for. Pay in December for the following year and the amount still belongs in the December year.
On the 2025 Anlage V form the item sits in the Werbungskosten block under passed-on costs. Lines 73 to 75 list property tax, street cleaning, refuse collection, water, heating and Hausversicherungen (building insurances). The line number shifts almost every year, the collective item does not. Look for the word Hausversicherungen rather than for a fixed line.
Use of the property
Deductible?
Where to enter it
You live in it yourself
no
no entry possible
Fully let
yes, in full
Anlage V, Werbungskosten, Hausversicherungen
Partly let
yes, by floor-area share
Anlage V, which asks for total and own-use floor area
Home office as centre of your work
yes, by floor-area share
employment expenses or business expenses
Holiday flat that is let
yes, pro rata
Anlage V plus the extra Anlage V-FeWo form
Empty with a genuine intention to let
usually yes
Anlage V, keep evidence of the intention
If the tenant pays, it is still your income
Section 2 no. 13 of the Betriebskostenverordnung lets landlords pass on the cost of property and liability insurance. It names cover for the building against fire, storm, water and other natural hazards, glass cover and liability cover for the building, the oil tank and the lift.
In tax terms the two sides usually cancel out, but not by themselves. What tenants repay goes in as income from passed-on service charges, the premium you pay goes in as an expense. Both figures belong in the return. Netting them off and reporting only the difference is not an accepted shortcut.
Home office and partial letting: floor area decides
If a room in your own home qualifies as a häusliches Arbeitszimmer (home study) and is the centre of your entire professional activity, you may deduct running building costs pro rata, building insurance included. The split is by area: 15 square metres out of 150 gives you 10 percent of the premium.
If you take the flat annual amount of 1,260 euros instead of actual costs, everything is settled with it and the insurance does not come on top. The same applies to the daily allowance of 6 euros for each day worked from home, capped at 1,260 euros a year. Both figures are set out in section 4 paragraph 5 sentence 1 nos. 6b and 6c of the Einkommensteuergesetz (income tax act).
Letting only part of the building, for example a granny flat, follows the same logic. Anlage V asks for the total living area and for the part you use yourself or let others use free of charge. That gives you the percentage you may claim. A floor plan with measurements is enough as proof.
Insurance tax: the part that is already tax
Your premium already contains 19 percent insurance tax, the general rate under section 6 paragraph 1 of the Versicherungsteuergesetz. Pure fire cover and fire business interruption cover carry 22 percent. Building insurance stays at 19 percent, with a separate rule for how the fire element is measured.
You cannot reclaim that tax. Where the property is let it is simply part of the premium you paid and travels with it into your deductible expenses. It never becomes a separate line, and residential letting carries no input VAT recovery either.
When it is not worth the effort
If you live in the house and have no recognised home study, the matter is closed. There is no box that fits the policy and no allowance that absorbs it. That is unsatisfying, but it is the honest answer.
A look at the contract itself pays better. Older policies often lack natural hazard cover, the sum insured no longer matches the building, or the premium has crept up for years while the cover stood still. The money at stake there is usually far larger than anything tax could return.
Step by step
Decide whether the property is owner occupied, let, or a mix of both.
Find the premium invoice for the calendar year in which you actually paid.
For mixed use, work out the let floor-area share and back it with a floor plan.
Enter the amount on Anlage V under Hausversicherungen.
Report service charges repaid by tenants separately as income.
Keep the policy, the invoice and the bank statement for at least ten years.
Checklist
Use of the building clearly assigned
Premium allocated to the year of payment
Floor-area share for mixed use proven with a plan
Tenant repayments booked as income rather than netted off
For a home office, checked whether the flat amount or actual costs work out better
Records filed for at least ten years
Common mistakes
Entering the policy for an owner occupied home under Vorsorgeaufwendungen and hoping for a refund
Netting tenant repayments against the premium and leaving both figures out
Claiming the insurance on top of the flat 1,260 euro home office amount
Deducting the whole premium when only part of the building is let
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Can I claim building insurance as a special expense?
No.
Vorsorgeaufwendungen and Sonderausgaben cover personal and liability risks,
not insurance on a thing.
Does the premium count in the year of payment or the year of cover?
The year of payment.
Pay in December for the following year and it belongs in the return for the year you paid.
What about landlord liability insurance?
Where the property is let it is deductible in the same way as the building policy.
For an owner occupied house it is usually already included in private liability cover.
Is the premium deductible while the flat stands empty?
Usually yes, as long as you genuinely intend to let it and can show that,
for example with advertisements or an agency mandate.
What about a holiday flat I also use myself?
The share attributable to your own use is not deductible.
For holiday flats the tax office also requires the separate Anlage V-FeWo form.
How much insurance tax sits in the premium?
The general rate is 19 percent.
Pure fire insurance is taxed at 22 percent.
We let to our son. Does that change anything?
Letting to relatives has its own rules, notably on how the rent compares with the local market.
Anlage V asks about it directly, so clear the case with your tax adviser first.
