Rental matters
August 10, 2020 | 40,00 EUR | answered by Steuerberater Knut Christiansen
Hello,
I have a consulting sole proprietorship and due to financial problems in 2018, my girlfriend and I founded a "GmbH" as a backup company...
My girlfriend is the sole managing director and I invoice the GmbH for my consulting services.
Now, my private apartment, where the registered office of the GmbH ("the home office") is located, has been terminated.
1.) Question: What do we need to do regarding the company's registered office? Fortunately, the post is being forwarded to a PO box. A new office has not been rented yet.
2.) There is a nice furnished apartment available in this area, which I would prefer to rent through the GmbH...!? The living room is downstairs, and upstairs in the duplex is just a bed, where I can also sleep privately... Can the rental costs of €1,690.00 be tax deductible for the GmbH? How should the landlord's invoice (letterhead) be formatted? Can it even be considered a company apartment for me?
Good day and thank you for using frag-einen.com!
I would be happy to answer your questions as part of an initial consultation.
In general, a GmbH (limited liability company) must have a registered address. This is a clear address under which the GmbH can be assigned, so you should either provide your friend's address here or wait until you have found a new apartment. As far as I know, providing a PO Box as the address is not sufficient and would be criticized by the commercial register.
In theory, the GmbH could rent the apartment. In that case, the rental agreement would need to be concluded between the GmbH and the landlord. A separate invoice is not necessary, but a clear rental agreement would be required. However, the GmbH would need to charge you the proportional costs for the shared use of the apartment as a taxable benefit, otherwise there would be a hidden profit distribution. The evaluation would be based on the privately used rooms and common areas.
I hope this answers your questions, if not, feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Knut Christiansen
Tax advisor
