As of: March 19, 2024, 5:14 a.m
By: Anne Hund
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Anyone who places their gardening work in someone else's hands can claim this expense as a tax deduction.
What should you pay attention to when filing your tax return?
March 20th marks the beginning of spring.
Time to spruce up the garden again.
Looking back on the past year, many people are now completing their tax returns.
You should know that you may be able to deduct gardening work from your taxes.
What should you pay attention to?
Many people do gardening work themselves, while others hire a professional to mow the lawn, for example.
Sometimes you also have to rely on the help of professionals who, for example, pave the terrace - or you hire a gardening company, gardener or landscaper to do some work or redesign.
Certain costs can be deducted from tax to a certain extent.
Basically, there are two options, as the
United Wage Tax Assistance (VLH)
informed on its website.
What applies to outsourcing?
1. Household-related services
Smaller garden maintenance jobs such as mowing the lawn, weeding or trimming hedges fall under the so-called household-related services for tax purposes.
In other words, expenses that could theoretically have been taken care of by one member of the household.
Here the tax authorities contribute 20 percent of the costs.
The difference to craftsman's services: The experts emphasize that you can even claim up to 4,000 euros per year for tax purposes for this work.
This means: 20 percent of the labor, travel and machine costs are recognized by the tax office as long as the amount does not exceed a limit of 4,000 euros.
According to the VLH, it is important as proof for the tax return that you can present the relevant invoices for the service including proof of payment if requested.
You should also make sure that material costs are shown separately from labor, travel and machine costs.
Because material costs may not be deducted.
Some also hire a professional for smaller gardening jobs.
(Symbolic image) © Image Source/Imago
2. Craftsman services
Larger jobs in the garden, i.e. everything related to garden design, usually fall under the category of craftsman services.
For example, digging up larger amounts of earth, paving a terrace or laying turf, as stated in an earlier report by the German Press Agency on the subject.
In principle, the same conditions apply as for household-related services.
The only difference, however, is that tax offices only recognize craftsmen's services up to a maximum amount of 1,200 euros per year.
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Costs for gardening work: transfer invoices
The VLH has another note: In order for the responsible tax office to recognize the costs of gardening work as a household-related service or as a craftsman's service, the invoice must be paid with proof of invoice.
One option is bank transfer.
The tax office does not recognize invoices paid in cash, even with a receipt, the VLH also informed on its website.