Germany's 10-Day Rule 2026: How to Assign Year-End VAT & EÜR Payments Correctly

You pay the VAT prepayment for December 2025 on January 11, 2026. Is it a 2025 or a 2026 business expense? The answer sits inside Germany's 10-day rule under § 11 EStG. Used correctly, it shifts deductions and liquidity into the right tax year. Missed, you lose the expense entirely or push it into the wrong bracket. 2026 is the trickiest year in a while: January 10 falls on a Saturday.

In short

• A year-end exception: the 10-day rule (§ 11 (1) sentence 2 and (2) sentence 2 EStG) assigns regularly recurring payments to the year they economically belong to, not the year the cash moves.
• Window Dec 22 to Jan 10: only payments inside those 20 days fall under the rule.
• The classic case: the VAT prepayment for December or Q4, normally due on January 10.
• The 2026 trap: January 10, 2026 is a Saturday. Pay by Friday, January 9, 2026 so the prepayment safely stays a 2025 business expense.
• EÜR only: GmbHs, UGs, and registered merchants who keep double-entry books use the accrual principle – the rule doesn't apply to them.

What the 10-day rule actually does

Freelancers and self-employed professionals who calculate profit using the Einnahmenüberschussrechnung (EÜR) follow the Zufluss-Abfluss-Prinzip – the cash-basis principle. Income counts in the year it arrives; expenses count in the year they leave the account. § 11 EStG creates a deliberate exception: regularly recurring payments around the turn of the year get assigned to the year they economically belong to.

The window: December 22 to January 10. Inside those 20 days the special rule applies. Outside it, the ordinary cash-basis principle is back in force. Without this exception, December rent debited on January 2 would arbitrarily hit the wrong year just because a bank weekend fell in between.

Three conditions the payment must meet

• Recurring on a fixed schedule: monthly, quarterly, or yearly. One-off payments don't qualify. It's enough that the payment recurs by nature – the amount may vary.
• Cash movement inside the window: the debit or credit must hit between Dec 22 and Jan 10.
• Clear economic year: the payment must unambiguously belong to a specific year – December's rent, for example, belongs to the prior year.

If any one condition fails, the ordinary cash-basis principle applies again: the day the money leaves or enters the account simply counts.

The classic case: the December VAT prepayment

The most common scenario is the VAT prepayment (UStVA) for December (monthly filers) or Q4 (quarterly filers). Both are normally due on January 10. If you file as an EÜR user and pay by January 10, 2026, the VAT becomes a 2025 business expense – even though the money only leaves your account in 2026.

Example: a freelancer files her UStVA for December 2025 on January 8, 2026, and pays €2,400 the same day. That payment reduces her 2025 profit – not 2026. Without the 10-day rule, she would only be able to deduct it the following year.

The same logic works on the income side: a VAT refund the tax office pays out on January 5, 2026 for November 2025 counts as 2025 business income, provided it recurs regularly and lands in the window.

Watch out in 2026: January 10 is a Saturday

This is where it gets thorny. Under § 108 (3) AO, the VAT prepayment's due date shifts to the next business day – Monday, January 12, 2026. For the filing itself, that's fine. For the 10-day rule, the Federal Tax Court (BFH) used to apply a stricter test: payment had to happen inside the 10 days AND at the regular due date.

The BFH refined this in 2022 (VIII R 25/20): if the deferred due date falls on a business day still inside the 10-day window, the rule applies. If the deferred due date already sits outside the window – like January 12, 2026 – the rule no longer applies. In practice, for 2026:

• Safe: pay by Friday, January 9, 2026 – still inside the 10-day window and before the weekend.
• Risky: pay on Monday, January 12, 2026 – the tax office will book the payment into 2026.
• SEPA direct debit: if you've granted the tax office a SEPA mandate, the timely initiation counts – not the later settlement date. It's the most reliable solution across the year boundary.

Payment day and tax year at a glance (December UStVA 2025)

The second row is why you shouldn't push the Saturday: banks rarely value-date on weekends, and in doubt the tax office sees the next posting day. If you want certainty, transfer on Friday.

Other typical payments under the rule

• Office or coworking rent (January rent debited on December 28 economically belongs to the new year)
• Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) artist social insurance contributions
• Professional liability and other commercial insurance premiums
• Software and SaaS subscriptions billed on a fixed cycle
• Leasing instalments for company vehicles or equipment
• Recurring incoming fees from retainer clients or subscription products

What qualifies – and what doesn't

One-off payments – like the tax advisor's invoice for the annual financial statements or a one-time equipment purchase – stay out. The rule also doesn't apply once you've switched from EÜR to double-entry bookkeeping or run a GmbH/UG. Those entities follow the accrual principle: economic origin counts, not cash flow.

The three most common mistakes

1. Treating one-off payments as recurring. Pushing a one-time tax advisor invoice into the prior year is the first thing an auditor will challenge.
2. Confusing invoice date with payment date. For the 10-day rule, only the debit or credit date matters – not when the invoice was issued.
3. Ignoring the weekend effect. The big one for 2026: pay on January 12 and you lose the 2025 deduction. Plan three days early, send the wire on the 7th.

Use it strategically: shift tax into the right year

The 10-day rule isn't a bookkeeping technicality – it's one of the few legal levers an EÜR filer has to actively manage taxable profit. Strong 2025, weaker 2026 forecast? Pull the December VAT prepayment into 2025 to dent the higher profit. Expect a stronger 2026? Pay deliberately after January 10 to relieve the new year. Combined with planned investments, special depreciation, and prepayments, the room to maneuver is real.

A quick example: a designer expects €62,000 profit in 2025 but only €41,000 in 2026. Pulling the €2,400 December VAT prepayment into 2025 saves it against a marginal rate of roughly 42% – about €1,000. Booked in the weaker 2026 year, the same payment would only offset a lower marginal rate. Over both years it's no tax gift, but a genuine interest and liquidity advantage.

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Norman detects recurring payments across the year-end automatically and assigns them to the correct tax year – VAT prepayments, KSK contributions, software subscriptions, leasing. AI bookkeeping reads your bank feed, proposes the right period assignment, and warns when the weekend effect threatens the deduction. The tax filing for self-employed then pulls the values straight into your EÜR and annual VAT return.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 10-day rule apply to income too?

Yes. Regularly recurring income that arrives in the window of Dec 22 to Jan 10 is also assigned to the year it economically belongs to. A VAT refund for November arriving in early January counts as prior-year business income.

What does "regularly recurring" mean exactly?

The payment must recur by nature at set intervals – monthly, quarterly, or yearly. The amount may vary. What matters is the recurring obligation, not a constant figure. One-off invoices never qualify.

For a transfer, does the send date or the posting date count?

The decisive day is when the payment leaves or is credited. For a normal bank transfer, that's the posting day. So in 2026, don't transfer only late on January 9 – build in a one- to two-day buffer.

What about the VAT special prepayment under a permanent filing extension?

The special prepayment (1/11 of the prior year's liability) is disputed. Tax authorities largely don't treat it as a classic prepayment under the 10-day rule because it's offset later. In doubt, it belongs to the year the cash actually leaves.

As a GmbH keeping double-entry books, do I need to worry about the rule?

No. Anyone who keeps double-entry books – every GmbH and UG, plus registered merchants above the thresholds – applies the accrual principle. There, the economic origin of the expense counts, not the payment date. The 10-day rule only affects EÜR filers.

Conclusion

The 10-day rule looks like a detail and behaves like a lever. For 2026, the Saturday cutoff means you need either crisp coordination with your tax advisor or bookkeeping that flags the risk before it's too late. Pay on time, stick to genuinely recurring payments, and avoid the typical EÜR mistakes – you'll preserve liquidity and tax savings without taking risks. The 2026 tax calendar keeps the key deadlines visible all year.