Home office during Corona: Tax aspects

Employees are currently being sent to the home office due to precautions in the context of the corona situation. It is questionable whether and to what extent expenditure during home office can be claimed against tax.

Principle
If the home office forms the center of all operational and professional activity, the full amount of the expenses may be taken into account for tax purposes (§ 4 paragraph 5 sentence 1 number 6b sentence 3, 2nd half sentence German Income Tax Code); this also applies if another job is available.

If the home office is not the focus of the entire operational and professional activity and there is no other workplace available for the operational or professional activity, the expenses up to the amount of 1,250 euros per marketing year or calendar year can be deducted as operating expenses or advertising costs (§ 4 paragraph 5 Sentence 1 number 6b sentences 2 and 3, 1st half sentence German Income Tax Code).

Concept of home office
A domestic study is a space that is integrated into the taxpayer’s home sphere in terms of its location, function and equipment, primarily for the completion of intellectual, written, administrative or organizational work and which is used exclusively or almost exclusively for operational and/or professional purposes becomes; subordinate private sharing (<10%) is harmless.

Result
The deduction of advertising costs for the company study remains a sensitive tax issue and often fails due to strict requirements for private shared use, since private shared use of 10% or more is not accepted for tax purposes even in corona times.

Please do not hesitate to contact us to address the topic individually.

Source: German Finance Ministry (BMF) letter dated October 6, 2017

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