Auntie Helen

For my application after 6 years I needed B2 (got C1 in the end).   Because of Corona delays they accepted my paperwork before I had done the exam and said they would pre-check everything, so that if I passed the exam all would be fine. This was because of the Brexit deadline.   fortunately I passed the exam and got my citizenship 3 weeks before the end of the transition period.   i had had a couple of long phone calls with them so they knew my German was pretty decent, this was just about getting the official paperwork to prove it. I had also previously supplied a letter from a local organisation where I did lots of,volunteering over five years, so my proof of integration.

Poppy is nearly 12 years old and has real problems with stiff hips after her Kreuzbandriss/snapped cruciate ligament last year.   But she is still a lovely lady!

I use it and cool down interchangeably

Yes, I have made the mistake here. The older house was built in 1938 for my grandmother and has been in our family the whole time. So I can't claim for it. That's a bit disappointing.   House number 2, which came from my parents, will work for the calculation.

Having written to my local Finanzamt with the request for the exchange rate (the same email I sent to the Bundesbank, who answered) I got a written reply today.   "aus Ihrer Email ist nicht ersichtlich um welche Einkünfte es sich genau handeln soll. Vermütlich geht es um eine Immobilie, die Sie in Großbritannien geerbt haben. Hierbei sind ausschließlich die im Veranlagungsjahr angefallenen Einnahmen bzw. Werbungskosten anzusetzen.   Möglich wäre auch noch eine Abschreibung ab Anschaffung. Diese Abschreibung kann aber nur für einen entgeltlichen Teil berücksichtigt werden und dann ab dem Zeitpunkt der Anschaffung.   Auch die Möglichkeitm die Afa des Rechtsvorgängers zu übernehmen besteht. Da Sie jedoch ausführen, dass das Objekt bereits seit 1938 im Besitz der Familie ist, wird die Abschreibung bereits ausgelaufen sein. Auch in diesem Fall sind keine weiteren Ermittlungen notwendig."   She thinks that I have inherited the property rather than having it as a gift when my grandmother still lived, but suggests from this that as it is a family item I cannot use the depreciation. Is that actually the case?

Well I had my reply from the Bundesbank about the exchange rate in 1938:   mit Bezug auf Ihre E-Mail teilen wir Ihnen mit, dass die amtlichen Devisenkurse der Berliner Börse für das Pfund Sterling am 19. Oktober 1938 1 Pfund Sterling = 11,895/11,925/11,910 Reichsmark (Geld-/Brief-/Mittelkurs für telegrafische Auszahlung) lauteten. Einen Devisenkurs zwischen Reichsmark und Euro gibt es nicht. Sollten Sie jedoch an einem aktuellen Vergleichswert für einen historischen Geldbetrag interessiert sein, finden Sie Rechenergebnisse zur heutigen Kaufkraft von historischen Beträgen in deutschen Währungen (Kaufkraftäquivalente) auf unserer Internetseite. Da Kaufkraftberechnungen mit Unsicherheiten verbunden sind, bitten wir Sie, die Ausführungen zur Methodik und zu den Einschränkungen von Kaufkraftvergleichen zu beachten. Link zur Internetseite "Kaufkraftvergleiche historischer Geldbeträge": https://www.bundesbank.de/de/statistiken/konjunktur-und-preise/erzeuger-und-verbraucherpreise/kaufkraftvergleiche-historischer-geldbetraege-775308 Link zur Tabelle mit Kaufkraftäquivalenten: https://www.bundesbank.de/resource/blob/615162/a52b231886b66bdaaf90f26fa12cb335/mL/kaufkraftaequivalente-historischer-betraege-in-deutschen-waehrungen-data.pdf Links zu Rechenbeispielen: https://www.bundesbank.de/resource/blob/615172/42eacbf5ca666a2d595d9dbfce3ca369/mL/kaufkraftberechnung-beispiel-2003-in-euro-data.pdf https://www.bundesbank.de/resource/blob/615186/02e81cc77047c3ab0e568861ed207637/mL/kaufkraftberechnung-beispiel-1990-in-dm-data.pdf Sollten Sie weitere Fragen haben, kontaktieren Sie uns gern.   So as there was no specific Reichsmark to Euro rate I used the rate Panda showed earlier in this thread which was 1 Reichsmark = 4,30 EUR.   I have this huge Word Document I am writing alongside doing the Steuererklärung with all the explanations as to how I get to these figures. I even have a PDF of the conveyancing document from 1938 as it shows the total cost of house and land was 541 GBP but value of the land was 25 GBP, so that works out at 4.62% of the total price, not that standard 20%. Seeing as I have an official document (nearly 80 years old!) to show this I have put that distribution of value in my tax return to see what the local Finanzamt think.   My experience of the local Finanzamt is that they are generally helpful. I don't think there are that many Brits in Kempen who have rental income so it might be a bit new to them too.

Hooray!! Thanks Panda, it looks like I might just be beginning to get to grips with this. Your help has been fantastic!   Still waiting to hear back from the Bundesbank about my Reichsmark exchange rate - it's all giving me good copy for my blog though, "The travails of filling in a German Tax Return after Brexit."

Hi GaryC,   I have done a bit more work on this and have ended up checking in WISO what happens to my tax if I include my UK rental income or exclude it.   If I put my UK rental income PROFIT in Anlage AUS line 36 (Nach DBA steuerfreie Einkünfte/Progressionsvorbehalt), which ended up as about 13.600 EUR, I end up with a total Nachzahlung of 1.400 EUR at the moment.   If I exclude it (delete the rental income from Anlage AUS, line 36), my current tax bill (still a few things to finalise) is -20 € with WISO (so a Rückerstattung of 20 EUR)   That means this rental income of 13.600 has increased my tax burden by 1.420 EUR. That's about 10% of the rental profit, although I am theoretically not being taxed on it! (For info, my salary income in DE was just under 20k and I have a few other bits and bobs in there such as Behinderungsgrad, bank interest, shares profit etc but nothing else dramatic).   Does this 1.420 EUR still seem too high?   I am pretty sure I have the numbers in the right boxes but it is of course still possible I am wrong. But as I have no feel for how much this should be, I don't really know! If this still seems really wrong then I will go back to the beginning and try again...

Thanks so much Panda. I have written to the Bundesbank and also to my local Finanzamt asking them for the official figures, let's see what happens. This works out at 460ish Euros off my profit each year for the next 12 years if it works out so that definitely means I owe you a drink if ever I am in München!

Aha, that must explain why I couldn't upload the photo. It was too big at first and then I shrunk it down to 140k but TT still didn't want to play. One learns something new every day!  Thank you!

  Hello Panda,   Having done my more recent property I decided to have a stab at the property built for my grandmother in 1938 which she gave to me in 1984.   The house cost a grand total of 541 GBP (I have the conveyancing document from 1938 in front of me!) but the exchange rate list above doesn't seem to go back that far. I had a look around on the Bundesbank website but couldn't see anywhere obvious where this information might be. Or is it too far back in history now? I guess it isn't a conversion to DM but to Reichsmarks...

Wow, that has had a MASSIVE effect on my rental income for 2021.   I had 60k EUR of renovation costs in 2020 and I have now entered them into my WISO and the "Steuer zu Zahlen" figure went from 3.700 EUR to 523 EUR. WISO divided the 60k into five and allocated 12K to offset my 2021 income. I put all 23 separate invoices together into one (calculated the exchange rate for the month that the invoice came) as I didn't want to put them all in separately, but I may have to do that if the Finanzamt ask to see my workings.   I will see what effect that has on the Progressionsvorbehalt in my "real" tax return...   EDIT, knocked it down to 1.343 EUR in total Nachzahlung. Which ain't too bad.   I am still waiting for a few more bits of paperwork from German banks etc so I am no way finished but I am making good progress.   Thanks to Panda for her answers on here and previously a short email correspondence with me (I kept everything she said to help me with the filling in) - and of course other commenters. No doubt I am still missing a few tricks but I have several months to improve/refine my information so I get everything absolutely correct. But this rental income thing was really a bit stressful as it is completely new to me in German tax law and, of course, it's all because of Brexit.   Hopefully some of you other Brits out there also enjoying this new Brexit Bonus can give some hints and tips too.   One annoyance is that my WISO software doesn't show the Box Numbers on the different Anlage so I have printed a paper copy of each out so I can see the order that the sections are in, plus their numbers (which Panda refers to) so I can find them in my WISO software.   Oh, and I am on purpose keeping all my finances separate from my husband, including tax returns. One of the real freedoms from my previous divorce (from a very lovely man, we had a good marriage for most of the time) was the freedom to do what I want with my own money. I never want to be beholden to a man for any financial decision with my money. Thus I do everything on my own, including fighting with the German tax return. 

Hi Panda, I do file separately as my husbands and my money is completely separate.   The figure of my rental income for both houses that WISO spits out at the end of all of that (I have a separate Ablage for the Anlage V so it is not attached to my existing money)  gives me a profit of 24.282 EUR for the year, calculated according to German rules (as far as I can find). Which is very irritating as I am paying off a huge renovation project from 2020 and won't ACTUALLY make any profit for another year, my UK tax returns are showing a loss for 3 years as a result. But Germany isn't interested in that.   When I put that amount into my real Ablage, plus a few minor other things (a bit of investment income from the UK and tiny amounts of bank interest) my WISO tells me that my Nachzahlung now is 2078 EUR. Is that definitely incorrect then for Steuerklasse 4? My earnings in Germany are just under 20k Brutto, so I actually earn more from my UK property than from my proper (albeit part-time) job in Germany.

Thank you - it was wonderful!   I wrote about the "interesting" times we had getting the paperwork together etc on my blog post: https://www.auntiehelen.co.uk/reader-i-married-him/

Having major trouble with the quote feature here so have given up.   It was weird I couldn't attach the image as it was only 125kb but I gave up in the end.   The reason I included that image was not really about the CGT but that my Dad commented that "if I went off to live in Germany". This was in 2008, years before I decided to decamp to Germany, so a bit spooky!    In no way will I sell or give my property away to anyone, it is in my will to go to my sister/nieces when I die, and only if I absolutely have to sell it because i have run out of money will I do so. And then I will pay the CGT of course, which is only fair! My husband and I did an Ehevertrag before we married last August to keep our money entirely separate and that's how I want it, but I see why Murphaph suggested it.    I think I confused the issue with the quote from my Dad's email - it was all about "disappearing to Germany", not about avoiding CGT.   Anyway, I THINK I may have made some progress with the tax return and my Brexit Bonus Extra Tax Burden due to Progressionsvorbehalt is about 2200 EUR which is not the end of the world. This is not including any depreciation figure in the properties as I think it's just too complex to prove values etc as I have no official document with the purchase price, just notes from my parents. This was all yonks ago and no-one knew then that the Germans might be interested!