For what period does the new home office flat rate of a maximum of 600 euros per year apply?
And what do those affected have to consider when filing their tax return?
Thanks to the home office flat rate * of a maximum of 600 euros per year resolved by the Bundestag in 2020, employees in the home office should be relieved a little.
The idea: Anyone who has additional costs from working at home - for example higher electricity costs - should benefit from the flat rate.
Home office flat rate of a maximum of 600 euros per year for work at home
In other words: Those who work from home during the Corona crisis receive a
tax bonus.
You
can
claim
five euros
per
home office day
, up to
a maximum of 600 euros per year
.
But watch out: the flat rate is one of the advertising expenses.
Therefore, only those taxpayers benefit from it, who come above the already applicable
advertising fee of 1,000 euros
, as the German Press Agency (dpa) reports.
Office equipment,
in turn, is one of the advertising costs, as dpa also reported.
Anyone who bought a new desk or office chair in the past year or before, which they now mainly use for work in the home office, can also claim the costs for tax purposes.
For further reading:
Tax returns: These items bring you back a lot of money from the state
But that also means: A corresponding
tax saving
can only be
achieved with the home office flat rate
if there are additional advertising costs, so that the 1,000 euros are exceeded.
This could be, for example, contributions to professional associations, costs for work equipment or travel expenses, writes sueddeutsche.de.
Depending on the amount of the other advertising costs, the flat rate leads to an additional reimbursement.
The
home office flat rate itself
only covers the
costs for using one's own apartment
- for electricity, water or heating, according to Isabel Klocke, according to sueddeutsche.de: “The costs for setting up the workplace or for work equipment are not included.
You can therefore also assert them. "
Read here:
Tax return 2020: What to watch out for now
Home office flat rate: proof for the tax office required?
According to the report, employees who want to make use of the home office flat rate have to state how many days they worked at home.
A
proof
is it not mandatory, Isabel Klocke comes from the Association of Taxpayers on sueddeutsche.de to speak.
However, you have to make it plausible that you were in the home office.
According to the report, the wage tax aid association "United wage tax aid" advises specifying the date, time and number of hours of home office days in a table.
In the tax return, you enter the flat rate in Appendix N for income-related expenses, according to the portal.
You can also read
: It's that easy to save money in the New Year - because that's new in 2021
Home office flat rate can be taken into account in tax returns for 2020 and 2021
Tax offices would not necessarily require proof, reports
deutschlandfunk.de
.
However, it is advisable to get a confirmation from the employer.
For example, if you go to the office or to an appointment in the morning, you cannot count the daily flat rate of five euros.
According to the report, the home office flat rate is limited to two years and can be taken into account in tax returns for 2020 and 2021.
(ahu) * merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
Sources: Sueddeutsche.de; deutschlandfunk.de; dpa
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List of rubric lists: © Jens Kalaene / dpa