'10 tax tips for your tax return', lists like these mix the trivial (commuter allowance, a tradesperson's invoice) with real levers and rank both side by side as equals. For someone in the top tax bracket that is the wrong resolution. The relevant question is not 'how do I get €200 back', but 'how do I legally restructure a five- or six-figure tax burden'. This article ranks the strategies by exactly that yardstick, the actual leverage for high earners, employees on a high income, the self-employed and business owners.
Why most tax tips don't move the needle
Three terms help separate the wheat from the chaff. First, the size of the lever: does it move a few hundred euros or a substantial share of your taxable income? Second, the type of effect: are you merely shifting tax into the future (deferral), reducing it permanently, or building a real asset along the way? Third, the prerequisite: does the lever work with your type of income? Many of the most effective instruments require business income, that is, income from a trade, self-employment or agriculture. Anyone who earns only employment income has to create that access structurally first.
By these three criteria the ranking is clear. Levers that move a lot, build a real asset and repeat year after year sit at the top. Levers that are reliable but small sit at the bottom. They belong in every tax return, but they don't decide the order of magnitude.
1. Entrepreneurial real-asset investment with §7g EStG
The strongest legal lever for high earners is the entrepreneurial direct investment in a depreciable asset (such as a large battery storage system, a photovoltaic or agri-PV plant) combined with the investment deduction (IAB) and the special depreciation (Sonder-AfA) under §7g EStG. The reason for first place is the order of magnitude: IAB (50 %), Sonder-AfA (40 % on the reduced base) and declining-balance depreciation together deliver more than 70 % of the investment volume as depreciation in the first year. At a top rate of 44.3 % (42 % including the solidarity surcharge) that equals a tax relief of around 38 % of the deployed volume, pulled forward into year one. No pure deferral lever reaches this force. One restriction applies to photovoltaics, however: small rooftop systems are tax-exempt and therefore not deductible at all; which systems actually carry the lever is shown in Deducting photovoltaics from tax: when depreciation and the §7g deduction still work. And for every variant the same holds: the lever presupposes a business run with profit intention, whose limits are mapped out in Liebhaberei and profit intention: when the tax office cancels the tax lever.
The second reason is the type of effect. You don't just save tax. You end up holding a real asset with ongoing revenues, not an insurance policy or a deferral effect that reverses later. The exact mechanics (IAB in the prior year, Sonder-AfA and declining-balance depreciation in the acquisition year, with a worked €300,000 example) are broken down step by step in IAB under §7g EStG: example calculation for battery storage. The basic mechanics, explained without prior knowledge, are in The Investitionsabzugsbetrag explained simply: how the IAB works.
Who does it work for? §7g requires business income; the leverage then works directly against your personal top tax rate, not against a lower corporate rate. The self-employed, business owners and freelancers with their own practice (doctors or lawyers, say) already have this access through their existing business; the investment is simply made within business assets. That only holds, however, as long as the existing business's profit stays below the €200,000 ceiling; a well-running practice can fail that test, and the route then runs through a separate investment business, as Saving tax as a physician or dentist: the §7g lever alongside the practice shows for physicians and dentists, Saving tax as a lawyer or law-firm partner: the §7g lever alongside the firm for lawyers and law-firm partners, and Saving tax as a business owner or managing director: the §7g lever alongside your company for business owners and managing directors. Solo professionals below the profit cap usually have the opposite problem, no suitable asset inside their own business; see Saving tax as a freelancer or self-employed professional: the §7g lever alongside your own practice. And employees without their own business? Two routes are open to them: either an own business or sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen) through which the investment is made, or an entrepreneurial direct participation that itself creates business income; in both cases the IAB and depreciation take effect. Which structure is the right one, and how the resulting loss offsets against your other income, is a question for the individual case that your tax advisor clarifies up front. The whole route for high-earning employees is traced in Saving tax as a high-earning employee: the §7g lever alongside your salary. The complete requirements of §7g, from the profit ceiling to the investment deadline, are covered in Investitionsabzugsbetrag: all §7g EStG requirements, and who can use it. One special case with particularly large leverage, incidentally, is the year in which a practice, firm or business is sold; how the allowance, the reduced rate and the IAB interact there is shown in Selling a practice or business: optimising the tax and reinvesting the proceeds sensibly.
Two further aspects make the lever attractive. First, the equity: because a substantial part is carried by bank financing and the pulled-forward tax refund, the effective equity outlay often sits in the low single-digit percent of the nominal volume. The calculation is in How much equity is actually required?. Second, repeatability: the IAB can be formed afresh every year, so a diversified portfolio of holdings is built over several years. How that works is shown in Using the investment deduction every year: building a portfolio over multiple years.
2. Property depreciation
Property was the standard tax-saving model of German private investors for decades. The most effective levers are listed-building depreciation (§7i/§7h EStG) on the renovation share of heritage-listed objects, the special depreciation for new rental housing (§7b EStG) and the declining-balance residential-building depreciation (§7 (5a) EStG, 5 % declining for new builds started within the eligible window). The principle resembles strategy 1: high depreciation in the early years, tied to a real asset.
The maths has shifted, though. Listed-building and new-build special depreciation are capped in volume and scarce on the supply side; residential yields in attractive locations are often below 3 %; and the operational burden (tenancy law, maintenance, regulatory intervention) keeps growing. For many high earners property remains a sensible building block, but it delivers a smaller early tax effect per euro deployed than the §7g structure. Who is it for? Those seeking a real asset with a long horizon and active management who can keep larger amounts tied up. The full comparison of the two real assets, from rental yield to the §23 advantage, is drawn in Solar or property as an investment: an honest comparison of two real assets.
3. Pension provision with immediate deduction
The basic pension ('Rürup') allows a special-expenses deduction up to a five-figure ceiling (2025: around €29,300 for single filers, double for jointly assessed couples; adjusted annually), fully deductible since 2023. For employees there is also the company pension via salary conversion, which stays free of tax and partly of social-security contributions within the limits. Both levers are at heart a shift: you save today at a high marginal rate and tax the pension later, typically at a lower rate.
Strength: reliable, predictable, accessible to almost anyone on a high income, especially for the self-employed without other provision. Weakness: capped and tied up long term (payout only in retirement, no access to the capital beforehand). A solid foundation, but not an instrument for noticeably lowering a six-figure tax burden in a single year.