SteuerGo FAQs

(2022) Can the home office be taken into account during parental leave?

Parental allowance makes it possible for one parent - usually the mother - to stay at home for at least a year after the birth of a child to care for the child. This parental leave can be extended to three years without continued salary payment.

During this time, the home office is often used for professional purposes, such as studying specialist literature, reading subscribed professional journals, preparing and following up on training courses attended, creating new work concepts, storing work materials, etc.

(1) Since "no other workplace" is available for such professional activities, the costs of the home office can be deducted as business expenses up to 1.250 Euro. This applies even if no taxable income is earned during parental leave.

(2) Can the home office be the "centre of professional activity" during parental leave? The Federal Fiscal Court bases this on the expected circumstances of the later professional activity (BFH ruling of 30.11.2004, VI R 102/01).

• For a teacher on parental leave, the home office costs are only deductible up to 1.250 Euro because "no other workplace" was available to her previously and this will also be the case later.
• For an employee who worked in the employer's office before parental leave, the home office was not the "centre" and will not be after parental leave. Therefore, the home office costs during parental leave are only deductible up to 1.250 Euro. By the way, the maximum amount of 1.250 Euro also applies if the parental leave did not last the whole year or the home office was not used all year round.

 

During the corona years, countless employees were sent to home office. Different situations were encountered - and still are. Some were "forced" to work from home, others were given the choice of working in the employer's office or from home, while others had to coordinate with colleagues regarding the use of the workplace, as only one person was allowed in the office at a time. But how should the costs for the home office be considered?

If you carry out your professional activity partly at home and partly at the company, the following applies to the home office:

• Three days home office: If you work at home three days a week, it depends on whether the work in the company and home office is of equal quality: If so, the home office is the "centre", and the costs are fully deductible. If, on the other hand, the work in the company is of higher quality, the home office cannot be the centre. Then a deduction of up to 1.250 Euro is possible, as "no other workplace" is available on the three home working days (BFH ruling of 23.5.2006, VI R 21/03). During the corona period, most tax offices assume without further examination that the work in the company and home office is of equal quality.
• Two days home office: If you work at home only two days a week, it depends on whether the workplace in the company could also be used during this time: If the use is neither restricted nor prohibited, a deduction for business expenses is not possible. However, if the use of the workplace in the company is excluded on the home working days (e.g. because it is used by another employee or the employer has prohibited its use), the "other workplace" cannot be used in the specifically required scope and manner. Therefore, costs for the home office up to 1.250 Euro are deductible as business expenses (BFH ruling of 26.2.2014, VI R 40/12).