Twelve year-end tasks, five with a hard 31 December cut-off. Small purchases up to €800 net are deductible in full in 2026, larger equipment gets degressive depreciation of up to 30%, and an Investitionsabzugsbetrag you claimed in 2023 expires if you have not bought by year end. Your 2026 turnover decides whether you can stay a Kleinunternehmer in 2027 (limit €25,000). Rürup contributions count for 2026 only if paid by 31 December, up to €30,826 for singles. Then lower your prepayments, check your archive and chase invoices from 2023 before they become unenforceable.
Most year-end tax lists treat "sort your receipts" with the same weight as a deadline that costs real money. This one is twelve items, sorted into what must happen before 31 December 2026 and what is hygiene with a date attached. Every number carries its year, because several change in January.
The five hard deadlines
1. Buy small equipment now: €800 per item. Anything you buy for the business at up to €800 net is a geringwertiges Wirtschaftsgut under § 6 Abs. 2 EStG and reduces your 2026 profit in full, provided it is paid and delivered in 2026. Items between €250 and €1,000 net can instead go into a Sammelposten written off in five equal parts. If you need the monitor anyway, December beats January.
2. Larger equipment: the degressive AfA is back until end-2027. For movable assets bought after 30 June 2025 and before 1 January 2028, § 7 Abs. 2 EStG allows declining-balance depreciation of up to three times the straight-line rate, capped at 30% of the remaining book value. The still-circulating claim that degressive AfA "no longer exists" or tops out at 20% describes the 2020 to 2022 rule. One honest caveat: in the year of purchase the deduction shrinks by one twelfth for every full month before the purchase month, so a laptop bought in December gives you one month of AfA in 2026. The argument for buying in 2026 is the window, not the December date.
3. An Investitionsabzugsbetrag from 2023 expires on 31 December 2026. § 7g EStG lets you deduct up to 50% of a planned purchase up to three years ahead, if your profit does not exceed €200,000. The purchase must follow by the end of the third year after the deduction year. If you claimed an IAB in your 2023 return and have not bought yet, buy in 2026 or the deduction is reversed with interest. A new IAB for a purchase planned for 2027 to 2029 has no 31 December deadline; you claim it with your 2026 return next year. In the year of purchase a further Sonderabschreibung of up to 40% applies.
4. The Kleinunternehmer test for 2027 runs on your 2026 turnover. Under § 19 UStG you may use the small-business scheme in 2027 only if your 2026 turnover did not exceed €25,000. The €100,000 figure is the current-year cap: cross it during the year and the exemption ends immediately for the turnover above it, not at year end. At €23,000 in November with a €5,000 invoice pending, the invoice date decides your 2027 status. Whether staying is the right choice at all is a separate question, laid out in Kleinunternehmer or Regelbesteuerung in 2027.
5. Rürup: pay by 31 December, ceiling €30,826. Contributions to a Basisrente are 100% deductible up to a ceiling that § 10 Abs. 3 EStG ties to the maximum contribution in the miners' pension scheme, rounded up to a full euro. No single official document prints the figure; you derive it from two published inputs. For 2026 the Knappschaft-Bahn-See sets the ceiling at €124,800 per year and the rate at 24.7%: €124,800 × 24.7% = €30,825.60, so €30,826 for a single person and €61,652 for a married couple filing jointly. A one-off payment counts for 2026 only if it leaves your account by 31 December. The 2027 ceiling will differ, because the inputs change every year.
Timing you control
6. Lower your prepayments before the 10 December instalment. Income tax prepayments fall due on 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December (§ 37 EStG). If 2026 profit is running below the year your Vorauszahlung was based on, the Finanzamt can adjust the amount on request; in practice a short informal letter with your year-to-date figures does the job. File it before the December instalment. The law frames this as the tax office's discretion, so attach evidence. The full method, including a letter template, is in how much tax to set aside in 2026.
7. Invoices: December or January is your choice. With an Einnahmenüberschussrechnung, § 11 EStG counts income in the year it arrives and expenses in the year you pay them. An invoice sent on 20 December and paid on 5 January is 2027 income. If 2026 is strong and 2027 looks weaker, shifting a payment across the year end is legal and cheap. The same logic applies to VAT under Istversteuerung (§ 20 UStG, open to Freiberufler and to anyone below €800,000 turnover): VAT is due when the client pays, not when you invoice.
8. Sweep the deductible expenses. Pay outstanding business bills, renew memberships and settle training invoices before 31 December if you want them in 2026. Our Betriebsausgaben checklist 2026 lists what qualifies and the usual mistakes per item.
Hygiene with a date
9. Receipts: eight years, not ten. § 147 Abs. 3 AO now requires Buchungsbelege to be kept for eight years; books, inventories and annual accounts stay at ten. Nothing has to be destroyed, but the 2018 receipts reach eight years at the end of 2026. Retention does not end while an assessment is still open or an audit is running, so check that before you clear anything.
10. E-invoice readiness. Since 2025 you must be able to receive an e-invoice; from 2027 your larger clients will send them. The details are in E-invoicing in Germany 2027. If your bookkeeping still runs on a spreadsheet, switching is easier at the year end than mid-year; Accountable (affiliate link) handles receiving, archiving and the EÜR in one place, and the 9am Freelancer Toolbox lists alternatives.
11. Send your Steuerbescheid to your Krankenkasse. Voluntarily insured in the GKV, your contribution is based on income you prove. The BfDI puts it plainly: the Krankenkasse sets the Höchstbeitrag "sofern und solange" the member does not prove income below the ceiling, and the Einkommensteuerbescheid is the document it may demand. A 2025 Bescheid that arrived this autumn belongs on their desk, not in your inbox.
12. Chase 2023 invoices before they die. The regular limitation period is three years (§ 195 BGB) and starts at the end of the year the claim arose (§ 199 BGB). An unpaid invoice from 2023 becomes unenforceable on 31 December 2026 unless you act. A reminder alone does not stop the clock; a Mahnbescheid or the client's written acknowledgement does.
What to do on Monday
- Export your 2026 profit to date and compare it with the profit your Vorauszahlung is based on. If it is lower, write the Herabsetzungsantrag this week.
- Check your 2023 tax return for an Investitionsabzugsbetrag. If there is one and no purchase, order before 31 December.
- Add up 2026 turnover if you are a Kleinunternehmer. Above €25,000 means Regelbesteuerung in 2027, so plan your invoice dates and your 2027 prices.
- Decide on a Rürup payment and the amount, with €30,826 as the 2026 ceiling, and transfer it before the banks close for the year.
- Open your list of unpaid invoices, filter for 2023, and act on every one.
If the invoice list from step 5 is shorter than you would like for other reasons, a free 9am profile puts you in front of companies across DACH that hire freelancers, and January is when their new budgets open.
This article is general information for practitioners and does not replace tax or legal advice.
