ᐅ Tax Advantages of a Photovoltaic System?

Plonk109 schrieb:

If Stromes has to establish a GbR and pay VAT, etc., they can also deduct all costs, including the loan, etc.

GbR: requires at least two people
VAT: It may be beneficial to initially opt out of the small business regulation and later choose to apply it.
Costs: For the loan, only the interest is tax-deductible, in addition to depreciation on the asset.

The topic of small business status (Kleinunternehmer) has become less relevant in recent years. The main reason is the declining feed-in tariff; as a result, photovoltaic systems are really only profitable through self-consumption, while the feed-in tariff mainly helps to recover the investment costs. This also means:

1. Because feed-in revenues are low, the intention to generate profit is hardly justifiable, especially for smaller systems in the range of 6–7 kWp.

2. For self-generated electricity, one would always have to pay value-added tax and settle accounts monthly. This involves quite a bit of bureaucracy for a break-even financial situation after several years, assuming the tax authorities accept the profit motive at all.

The larger the system and the higher the proportion of feed-in, the more worthwhile the small business regulation becomes. The previous limit of 10 kWp was changed to 30 kWp at the turn of the year.

WilderSueden schrieb:

1. Since the feed-in tariff generates little income, the intention to make a profit, especially with smaller systems around 6-7 kWp, is hardly justifiable.

It doesn’t need to be justified. Tax authorities are not interested in this with photovoltaic systems. And a small profit is still a profit.

WilderSueden schrieb:

2. You would always have to pay VAT on your own electricity consumption and file monthly returns.

Filing VAT pre-declarations for 12 months and then only annually is not a lot of effort. Especially since the same pre-declaration is submitted every month (how long does it take using Elster? About 2-3 minutes per month?) and the final settlement is only done at the end of the year.

In addition to depreciation and interest expenses, maintenance (cleaning!) and repairs are also tax-deductible.

Reltaw2021 schrieb:

In addition to depreciation and interest expenses, maintenance (cleaning!) and repairs are also tax deductible.

All costs you wouldn’t have at all without photovoltaics. 😀

... but one of the few ways to heat and still be tax-deductible.
Many types of heating systems require more maintenance but are not tax-deductible.