Tax: Home office - these are the pros and cons

Working in a home office has many advantages and disadvantages. Also from a tax perspective, you should therefore check beforehand whether this is also financially worthwhile for you. Especially in terms of deductibility, there are some regulations whose applicability you should look at in advance.

Tax advantages and disadvantages of the home office

If you work from home, then this has some effects on the tax. For example, you can claim certain aspects, others fall away for you. Therefore, before preparing your tax return, it is important to check carefully to what extent these things apply to you.

• At the moment, there is a home office allowance for employees, which amounts to 5 euros per day. Here, the upper limit for this is set at 600 euros, which corresponds to about 120 working days. However, this is offset against the flat-rate advertising allowance of 1,000 euros. If your advertising costs in combination with home office are less than 1,000 euros, then this is not effective for you. Therefore, you should have your home office recognized as a home office.
• If you work in your home office, you can also not claim the commuter flat rate of 0.30 euros per kilometer. This affects you especially if you take the bus or train to work.
• You can only deduct a home office from tax if it is used exclusively for professional purposes. Arbeiten im Wohnzimmer oder in der Küche gilt hierbei nicht.
• Zudem können Sie die Kosten für eine vermehrte Internet- und Telefonnutzen von Zuhause aus ebenfalls in Ihrer Steuererklärung geltend machen und absetzen.