Deduct your smartphone from your taxes: This is how you get your home office expenses back

Created: 06/23/2022, 16:08

By: Juliane Gutmann

You had to set up your home office from scratch?

You can claim the costs for tax purposes.

You can read here what falls under the term work equipment and how to proceed.

From a scribbler to a bar table: If you set up an office at home, you can quickly lose hundreds of euros.

However, you can get money back as part of the tax return.

As the

informs, everything that you need for your job or your job counts as work equipment in the tax sense.

This includes office furniture, technical equipment such as a printer, specialist literature, tools and work clothing.

So simply collect all the receipts and enter the expenses for work equipment in the tax return form "

", according to the lohi advice.

But in the case of a professionally used

or mobile phone, you should consider a few things.

Would you like more tips on the subject of jobs and careers?

If you work from home, you can claim some acquisition costs for tax purposes.

© Arne Trautmann/Imago

Deduct telephone costs from your taxes

The following applies to technical work equipment such as notebooks or smartphones: The amount that you can claim for tax purposes depends on the extent to which you use the device for work.

According to the wage tax aid, only the part of the acquisition costs that corresponds to the part of the professional use can be deducted.

So if you use your smartphone 50 percent for work and 50 percent for private purposes, you can claim 50 percent of the acquisition costs for tax purposes.

Proof of the use of the smartphone for professional purposes can be obtained from the employer, for example.

, says lohi.

It is also often the case that the private smartphone has to be used for business calls.

You can state any costs incurred in your tax return.

However, only if you provide proof - in the form of a certificate from your employer or in the form of invoices and/or a time overview.

The easiest way is to apply for a lump sum:

, up to a maximum of 240 euros per year.

If you document your telephone and Internet costs with individual statements, there is no maximum amount, in contrast to the flat-rate variant, according to the wage tax assistance website.