LMNP depreciation: the thousands in deductions you're forgetting
Depreciation is the greatest tax advantage of LMNP status. Yet most property owners only exploit half of it — through ignorance or lack of tracking.
The least exploited LMNP tax advantage
The LMNP's real regime offers a formidable tax weapon: depreciation. This mechanism allows you to deduct a fraction of the cost of your property, furniture, and equipment from your rental income each year, proportionally reducing — or even eliminating — your taxable base.
In theory, every LMNP owner under the real regime knows this. In practice, most only exploit half of it.
What you can actually depreciate
The list is longer than most property owners imagine.
The property (excluding land, typically estimated at 20% of price) depreciates over 25-30 years. For an apartment purchased at €200,000, that represents €160,000 in depreciable value, or roughly €5,333 in annual deductions for three decades.
Furniture — beds, sofas, tables, storage — depreciates over 5-10 years. A complete furnishing of €10,000 generates €1,429 in annual deductions over 7 years.
Appliances — washing machine, refrigerator, oven, microwave — depreciate over 5-7 years. €3,000 in equipment represents €600 in annual deductions.
Improvement works — bathroom renovation, window replacement, insulation — depreciate over 10-15 years.
Acquisition costs — transfer duties, notary fees, agency fees — depreciate over 5 years.
The bottom line
For our €200,000 apartment example, total annual depreciation reaches €7,362. Concretely, this means €7,362 of rental income is tax-exempt each year.
On annual rent of €12,000, only €4,638 would be taxable — and other deductible expenses (loan interest, insurance, management) can further reduce this base.
Why so many owners miss out
The problem isn't ignorance of the principle. It's tracking over time. Depreciation requires a precise tracking table: purchase date for each asset, amount, depreciation period, annual amount, cumulative past depreciation, and residual value.
Forgetting to update this table — or never having created one — is literally throwing money away. And over time, the gaps accumulate: a replaced washing machine here, a purchased sofa there, renovations done without being recorded.
Automating the tracking
A dedicated management system solves this by making tracking invisible. Each asset is recorded with its purchase date and amount. The tool automatically calculates the depreciation period and amount. Alerts signal when an asset is fully depreciated. And the accountant summary is generated automatically.
The result: no forgotten deductions, ever. Over the lifetime of a rental investment, the difference amounts to tens of thousands of euros.