The German government is preparing a lump-sum tax deduction for employees forced to telework because of the pandemic, in order to offset the costs incurred, a Bavarian conservative official told AFP on Monday.
Read also: The fatigue of private office workers: teleworking is (a bit) hell
In their tax return, employees will be able to deduct 5 euros per day of teleworking with a ceiling of 500 or 600 euros per year, at the end of this agreement between finance specialists from the two parties of the ruling coalition, Christians. Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD).
The current arrangements for working at home "no longer correspond to today's working world", justified the parliamentary expert of the Bavarian CSU, sister party of the CDU, Sebastian Brehm.
The draft package, which should be approved by both chambers of Parliament during the month of December, is therefore
"a flexible response"
, according to him.
The Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz, welcomed this project, assuring that it was
"a good help"
which would not constitute
"a significant tax burden for the federal state"
.
This tax rebate, linked to the direct consequences of the pandemic, should however be limited to two years.
The government must also decide whether this allowance will be included in the flat rate of professional expenses that employees can declare each year, or will be added to it.
Currently, German taxpayers who exercise a salaried activity can deduct from their tax bill business expenses corresponding to transport expenses to get to their place of work or the purchase of work clothes.
This almost automatic flat rate amounts to 1,000 euros per year In Germany, millions of employees have been working at least in part by telework since the spring, which causes additional costs, in particular for heating and electricity.
A law to regulate telework under study
The government coalition is also working on a law to regulate the use of telework.
But the Minister of Labor, Hubertus Heil (SPD), had to give up, for lack of unanimity, his initial idea of granting a
"right"
to an annual quota of 24 days of work at home.
The text currently under study provides, according to the German media, that employees who wish to be teleworking regularly make a request to their employer, himself required to justify his response.
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