With the home office flat rate, Germany wants to relieve people who had to work from home in the corona pandemic.
But there is a catch.
Berlin - For many, it was
everyday
work
in
2020
: the
home office
.
But not everyone had
a fully equipped workplace in their own home
before the
Corona *
pandemic and not everyone was provided with the appropriate equipment by their employer.
Germany wants to remedy this with the home office flat rate.
The Bundestag has now approved the new regulation.
There is one major catch, however.
Corona help: Home office flat rate is coming
Those who work from home during the Corona crisis should
be able to
claim
their expenses more easily in their
tax return
.
The Bundestag decided on Wednesday evening a home office flat rate of a maximum of 600 euros per year.
It should apply to tax returns for 2020 and 2021 - after that, it is hoped that the corona pandemic could be under control and most of them could return to their jobs.
For the regulation to come into force, the Federal Council still has to give its approval on Friday.
For each day at home, 5 euros are deducted from the tax calculation, for a maximum of 120 days a year.
This amount is deducted from taxable income, reducing the amount of taxes payable.
However, the home office flat rate is one of the advertising costs, for which all taxpayers are credited a flat rate of 1000 euros.
Only those who spend more than 1000 euros here will benefit from the measure.
Corona help home office flat rate: Rule on short-time work allowance also decided
In the same law, the Bundestag also extended the current regulation, according to which employer subsidies for short-time work allowances remain tax-free.
In addition, a tax regulation * has been changed for apartments that are rented out particularly cheaply.
Up until now, landlords could only claim advertising costs if the rent was at least 60 percent of the local comparable rent.
This limit now drops to 50 percent.
This is to prevent landlords from increasing rents for tax reasons.
In addition, volunteers receive tax relief.
The tax-free flat rate for trainers, from which youth coaches in sports clubs can benefit, will rise in the coming year from 2400 euros to 3000 euros a year.
In addition, an expense allowance for voluntary activities of up to 840 euros per year will remain tax-free in the future and not only - as currently - up to a limit of 720 euros.
(dpa / rjs) * merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.