Deduct a Smartphone in Germany 2026: The Self-Employed Guide

A solid business smartphone easily costs €1,000 or more today — a new iPhone Pro lands around €1,500. The obvious question: can I write the phone off entirely in the year of purchase, just like my laptop? The answer is: usually yes, but for a different reason — and for expensive devices, unfortunately not.

The key difference: the well-known BMF rule with a useful life of one year applies only to computer hardware — desktops, notebooks, tablets and peripherals. Smartphones are not on that list. For them, the standard depreciation table applies, with a useful life of five years, once they exceed the low-value-asset threshold.

Here are the rules for booking your phone, accessories and contract correctly in 2026 — as a freelancer, sole trader or GmbH managing director — into your EÜR or annual accounts, including input VAT recovery and private use.

Why a phone works differently from a laptop

The BMF letter of 22 February 2022 cut the useful life for computer hardware and software to one year. The letter lists the eligible devices exhaustively: desktop computers, notebooks, tablets, mobile workstations, docking stations, power supplies and peripherals. Smartphones do not appear in it.

The consequence: an expensive phone does not fall under the one-year rule that lets your laptop be fully written off in the year of purchase. Instead, the regular useful life from the depreciation table applies — and for mobile phones that is five years. That is the single most important takeaway of this article.

Rule 1: Up to €800 net — immediate as GWG

The good news first: most work phones stay below the low-value threshold. If your smartphone costs at most €800 net (§6 (2) EStG), it is a low-value asset (GWG) and fully deductible in the year of purchase. At 19% VAT that equals €952 gross.

So an Android device or an older iPhone model for €700 net lands entirely in the purchase year of your EÜR — with no spreading over five years. For GWG above €250.01 net you must keep a running register (purchase date, manufacturer, serial number, price). Details are in our guide to the GWG threshold and immediate write-off.

Rule 2: Above €800 net — five-year depreciation

If the phone costs more than €800 net, you depreciate it straight-line over five years — month by month from the month of acquisition (§7 (1) EStG). A device bought in May is therefore depreciated in 2026 for only eight months (May–December).

Worked example: iPhone at €1,500 gross = €1,260.50 net (at 19% VAT), bought in May, business share 70%.

• Annual depreciation: €1,260.50 ÷ 5 = €252.10
• 2026 pro-rata (8/12): €252.10 × 8/12 = €168.07
• Business share 70%: €117.65 deductible in 2026

You spread the remainder across the following years. Above €800 net does not mean a lost deduction — just a stretched one.

Rule 3: Input VAT — claim back the 19%

If you are entitled to deduct input VAT (standard taxation, not the small-business scheme), you recover the VAT shown on the invoice via your advance VAT return — immediately at the time of purchase, regardless of the fact that depreciation runs over five years. For a phone at €1,500 gross that is around €240 of input VAT in the period of purchase.

This requires the mandatory invoice details under §14 UStG. Small-business owners deduct the gross amount as a business expense but claim no input VAT — whether giving up the small-business scheme pays off for larger purchases depends on the case.

Rule 4: Split the business share cleanly

Almost everyone uses a smartphone privately too. Only the business share counts for tax:

• Under 10% business: no deduction — the device stays private.
• 10–90% business: proportional deduction. For the self-employed, 60–80% is standard and usually uncontested (depreciation and input VAT proportional).
• Over 90% business: full deduction, cleanest with a phone used purely for business.

A short note in your bookkeeping is enough as justification. Anyone running a second, purely business phone deducts 100% and need not justify a percentage in an audit. Important: do not confuse the device purchase with the ongoing contract costs — those are handled separately; see our guide to deducting phone costs.

Rule 5: Book accessories separately

Whatever comes with the phone is usually immediately deductible:

• Case, screen protector, charging cable, power bank, car mount: under €800 net → GWG, immediate 100%.
• AirPods and wireless headphones: a separate asset — details in our post on deducting headphones.
• Apps & subscriptions (e.g. Microsoft 365, bookkeeping apps): ongoing business expenses, fully deductible in the year paid.
• Repairs & screen replacement: immediately deductible maintenance expense.

Lost the receipt? A self-receipt saves the business-expense deduction — but not the input VAT, for which the original invoice remains mandatory.

Norman automatically recognises on a phone purchase whether GWG or 5-year depreciation applies, books the receipt to the right account and claims the input VAT in the advance return. For GmbHs it flows straight into the asset register — see Taxes for GmbH and Taxes for the self-employed.

Conclusion

Deducting a smartphone in 2026 follows different rules from a laptop: the one-year computer rule does not apply to phones. Up to €800 net you deduct the device immediately as a GWG; above that you depreciate it straight-line over five years, pro-rata from the month of purchase. Always claim input VAT immediately, document your business share (usually 60–80%) cleanly, and book accessories separately. Do this with discipline and you extract the maximum tax benefit from every work phone.