Employees in the corona-related home office have higher heating costs.
The federal government wants to protect against additional costs like these with tax relief.
In the
home office
, electricity and
heating costs
are increasing
for employees.
At the same time, many employees
can
not
deduct their home office
from tax because
they
do not have a study.
New
tax relief
should help.
Heidelberg / Berlin -
home office
- a form of work that was
still the exception
in many German companies until the
corona pandemic
.
But since March, more people in Germany have also been working from home to minimize the risk of further corona infections.
In terms of health, this may be an advantage and security for companies and employees, but especially now in the cold season of the year, a disadvantage becomes clear.
Or: additional costs that are not necessarily on your radar at first.
Anyone who suddenly no longer spends 40 hours a week in the office, but at the converted kitchen table, naturally increases not only electricity and water consumption, but also
heating costs
.
Suddenly the apartment or house needs to be heated permanently, where the heating was turned down before leaving for work and only turned on again after work.
According to calculations by the comparison portal Verivox, people who work completely from home instead of driving to the office in the winter months have to reckon with around 4 percent higher heating requirements.
Depending on the heating system, this could result in additional costs of up to 45 euros.
+
Those who work from home in the winter months suddenly have higher heating costs.
© Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
Corona: Higher heating costs through home office - up to 45 euros more
Verivox makes the following calculation: If an employee
stays
in the
home office
from October up to and including March
, he has to heat more than usual on about 120 days.
If the apartment is heated three degrees warmer during an eight-hour working day than during the out-of-home activity, the bottom line is an additional heating requirement of 4 percent.
When heating with gas, this means additional costs of 45 euros with an average consumption.
In the case of oil heating, an increase of around 33 euros should be planned.
The calculations are based on the average energy prices in October 2020.
One reason why the federal government decided on Monday (
November 30th, 2020
) tax relief to
protect
employees in the
home office
from additional costs.
This is not only about higher electricity and
heating costs
, but also a tax-deductible office is unlikely to have - the tax office usually only recognizes the costs for the home workplace under certain very restrictive conditions, for example if a room is used almost exclusively for business purposes .
That should now change with the flat rate.
More heating costs in the home office: Tax relief should protect employees
For every day
home office there
should be a flat rate of 5 euros, for a maximum of 100 working days a year - a maximum of 500 euros, according to the SPD.
Important: This is not additional money, but an amount that is deducted from income when calculating tax.
The taxable income will be smaller and the taxes due will decrease.
It was initially unclear whether the regulations should apply to the tax return for 2020.
However, they are expected to be limited to two years for the time being.
The new regulation was welcomed by many sides such as the German Trade Union Confederation, but criticism came from the opposition: The coalition's proposal "comes too late and falls short," said FDP parliamentary deputy Christian Dürr.
He asked for a flat rate of 100 euros a month.
The left-wing politician Fabio de Masi criticized that employers were
"completely
relieved
of their duty"
when it came to the costs of
home office
.
The lump sum benefits higher incomes through the tax deduction and should not fall under the automatic income-related expenses lump sum.
It was still unclear on Monday whether the home office flat rate will be included in the 1000 euro flat rate or whether it will be added separately.
# Home office # flat rate: It is good that we are finally talking about it in detail, says # BdSt President Reiner #Holznagel.
However, he criticizes that according to the concept, a maximum of 600 euros per year may be claimed.
https://t.co/DFJxa9d1PC
- inforadio (@rbbinforadio) November 30, 2020
Heating costs rise even without home office in the corona pandemic
But back to heating costs: whether
working from home
or not,
most of them will have to expect
higher
heating costs in
2021.
Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck: “Consumers will have to be prepared for significantly higher heating costs in the coming year.
Anyone who works from home even works in two ways. ”The main reason is the new surcharge for the carbon dioxide (CO2) released, initially 25 euros per ton.
In addition, after the temporary
reduction, VAT
returns to the previous level.
Heating oil is also becoming more expensive because of the CO2 tax.
According to the comparison portals Check24 and Verivox, almost 300 basic gas suppliers have announced
price increases
averaging more than 6 percent.
With an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, this leads to additional costs of over 90 euros.
(Ines Alberti with dpa and AFP)
Leading article on the tax lump sum for home office workers: How much must and can the state provide?
Olaf Scholz is slowing down further costs for good reasons.
List of rubric lists: © Sebastian Gollnow / dpa