Maintenance Costs

Maintenance costs are expenses that serve to preserve your property. These include repairs, renovations or the replacement of existing building components.

Insurance premiums and management fees are also deductible if a property is administered by third parties.

Value-increasing investments are not deductible. These are expenses that improve the standard or permanently increase the value of the property. In practice, for major renovations, an estimate is often applied, for example two thirds value-preserving, which is deductible, and one third value-increasing, which is not deductible. Value-increasing investments cannot be deducted in the annual tax return, but they may be deducted later when calculating real estate capital gains tax upon sale of the property.

For each property, you can choose whether to deduct the actual costs or a lump sum. A lump sum deduction is not permitted if the property is predominantly used for business purposes.

For detailed clarification on which costs are deductible and which are not, the Canton of Zurich refers to the official guideline ZStB 30.3. There you will find a detailed catalogue with examples.

You replace an old heating system with an equivalent new one. These costs qualify as maintenance and are deductible.

You build an additional balcony. These costs qualify as value-increasing and are not deductible.

If you claim actual costs, you should upload the corresponding invoices.

In the Maintenance Costs section, the lump sum deduction is automatically calculated by iqtax. If you want to deduct actual costs, select “Add new”, choose the property, and enter the date, the recipient, a short description and the costs.