Allowable work-related costs frequently deducted by employees
Employees have the option to deduct job-related expenses as allowable costs in their income tax returns. In the following section we outline the three cost categories that are frequently claimed and that can then make a contribution towards exceeding the standard deduction of €1,230 for allowable costs, which is automatically granted by the local tax office.
Distance-related tax allowance
For many employees it can be worthwhile specifying the journeys to their primary workplaces in their tax returns. For the simple route between home and workplace it is possible to deduct €0.30 per kilometre and from the 21st kilometre even €0.38. A distance of 20 kilometres and 215 working days would thus result in an amount of €1,290 (215 days x 20 km x €0.30) solely for the distance-related tax allowance, whereby the standard deduction for allowable costs would already have been exceeded.
Daily tax allowance for working from home
Since 2023, employees who work in a home office have had the option of claiming a tax deduction of €6 for each day that they have spent working from home to complete their professional tasks. In doing so, it is possible to take into account a maximum of 210 days working from home, which would correspond to an amount that could be deducted of €1,260. The standard deduction of €1,230 for allowable costs could thus likewise already be exceeded. Employees who travel to their primary workplace some of the time and work from home on the other days have the option of using the distance-related tax allowance for the days in the office and the tax allowance for working from home for the days when they do so. If no permanent workstation is available at the company, then, for periods from 2023, it is moreover possible to make use of both the working from home tax allowance as well as the distance-related tax allowance on one day, for example, when the employee travels to work in the morning and, in the afternoon, then continues working from home.
Work equipment
Employees are able to set off against tax their expenses for work clothes, office furniture and office supplies, tools, specialist literature and other work equipment as allowable work-related costs. If the purchase price of such an item is a maximum of €800 net and if it is almost exclusively used for professional purposes (at least 90%) then the costs would be fully deductible in the year in which the purchase was made. However, if the price is above this amount then the acquisition costs have to be spread evenly over the expected useful life (depreciation for wear and tear). For guidance, the Federal Ministry of Finance provides so-called depreciation tables (AfA-Tabellen). In the event that taxpayers wish to apply a shorter useful life than the one set out in the depreciation tables, they would then be required to submit a specific justification for this to the local tax office.
