With effect from 01/01/2020, companies and cooperatives with a staff of more than 49 employees may write off their own buildings included in depreciation group 6 over a shorter depreciation period of 6 years on a straight-line basis.
A more advantageous method of depreciation may be used for buildings meeting the following conditions at the same time:
- they were acquired by purchase or built with the company’s own resources,
- they are included in building classification codes 112 (buildings with two, three or more units) and 113 (other residential buildings) in accordance with the Statistical Classification of Buildings,
- the floor area of each residential unit amounts to a maximum of 100 square metres, and
- at least 70% of the building is intended to be used for residential purposes by employees of the employer.
This method of depreciation is applied for the first time for the tax period commencing on 01/01/2020 at the earliest. This change may also be applied to buildings that were started to write off in previous periods in accordance with the regulations effective until 31/12/2019; however, all of the conditions specified above must be met simultaneously.
