From time to time, working people have to incur expenses that their employer does not pay.
A large part of the costs are tax deductible.
Anyone who travels frequently for work will know this: expenses on the road add up quickly.
The employer does not always pay for this.
The positive: Many costs can be deducted in the tax return, which in some cases allows families to save a lot of money.
As advertising costs.
This only affects expenses that are not already covered by the employer.
Finanztip.de
explains: “The work abroad must be motivated by work.
This is the case if you are traveling in the interests of your employer.” A foreign job occurs if you travel for work outside of your first place of work, namely your regular place of work.
Travel expenses must be documented to the tax office
Very important: You must be able to document all expenses to the tax office.
You can do this, for example, with the help of a logbook, fuel receipts, correspondence, confirmations of participation or hotel bills.
Otherwise, the income-related expenses for employees apply analogously to the business expenses for the self-employed.
There are essentially four different types of deductible travel expenses:
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Business trip costs can be deducted from tax.
© Tetra Images/IMAGO
1. Travel costs
Of course, travel costs can be charged for business-related trips using your own vehicle.
A flat rate per kilometer can be used - for a car this is 30 cents per kilometer driven.
If your costs are higher, higher demands can also be stated.
However, this requires significantly more effort.
You must provide evidence of your total annual costs for the vehicle and then calculate the partial amount that corresponds to the share of the annual mileage of the trips to be taken into account.
This only works with a logbook, explains
Finanztip.de
.
If you use public transport for work, you can also get your money back.
Here, too, you can claim the flat rate travel allowance of 30 cents per kilometer.
Here you must also keep the documents as proof.
The limit of the total deductible amount is 4,500 euros, reports the online portal
Lohnsteuer-kompakt.de
.
2. Accommodation costs
In the rare case that your employer does not cover the accommodation costs incurred during a business trip, you can also deduct these from your taxes.
However, only the costs that you paid to the hotel for accommodation alone apply; meals are not included.
The tax office requires concrete individual evidence from the taxpayer for accommodation costs.
If it is not possible to determine how high the proportion of meals is in the total amount, a flat rate of money must be deducted from the total price.
That's 5.60 euros for breakfast and 11.20 euros for lunch and dinner.
Costs incurred by a companion who is not traveling with you for work purposes are not tax deductible.
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3. Incidental travel costs
Not only travel or accommodation costs are tax deductible, but also the so-called incidental travel costs.
According to Finanztip.de,
this includes,
among other things, the transport and storage of luggage.
Telephone calls with a professional content with the employer or other business partners, road use and parking fees.
Any travel cancellation insurance you have taken out can also be charged.
However, private pleasures such as costs for the minibar, massages or pay TV are not tax deductible.
Retention periods: This is how long common documents must be kept
Retention periods: This is how long common documents must be kept
4. Additional meal expenses
Fixed flat rates are provided for food and drink on business trips.
A distinction is made between two different cases.
You will receive 14 euros if you do not travel for a full day but for more than eight hours on business.
This amount also applies to the day of arrival and departure for longer trips.
However, you get 28 euros a day for every day on which you are away from your home and primary place of work for at least 24 hours.
Here too, it is important to keep the receipts.
The federal government is discussing increasing the flat rates to 16 or 32 euros.
Different flat rates apply for trips abroad anyway.
Category list image: © Tetra Images/IMAGO