Capitalization of maintenance costs

According to section 6(1) no 1 lit. of the Federal Income Tax Code, construction costs of a building include maintenance and refurbishment costs incurred within three years of the acquisition of the building that exceed (in total) 15% of the acquisition costs, except for annually incurred (regular) maintenance costs (e.g. painting or whitewashing of walls and ceilings). The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) held on 25 August 2009 that regular maintenance costs arising as a result of a uniform maintenance or refurbishment measure need to be included in the 15% threshold and consequently need to be capitalized as additional acquisition costs if the threshold is exceeded.