(2022)
Home office: correctly deduct costs for shared use
If you share a home office with your working spouse, civil partner or partner, it is often unclear who can claim which expenses for tax purposes and to what extent. It is clear that the home office costs must first be calculated and allocated to the two users according to the usage ratio.
Next, the personal deduction entitlement must be checked:
- If the home office is the centre of one spouse's entire professional activity, they can deduct their share of the costs in full as business expenses.
- If a spouse uses the home office because no other workplace is available, their share of the costs is only deductible up to the proportional maximum amount of 1.250 Euro. With a 50% usage share, this means up to 625 Euro.
Since 2005, the tax authorities have applied the deduction restriction for the home office on an "object-related" basis. This means that the home office costs can only be deducted once up to 1.250 Euro, regardless of the number of users. So if a couple of teachers share a home office, each cannot deduct the costs up to 1.250 Euro; instead, this maximum amount must be divided according to the usage ratio. It must be checked whether each person meets the personal deduction requirements.
The Federal Fiscal Court has now changed its previous legal opinion and that of the tax authorities in favour of taxpayers: If two people share a home office and each meets the personal deduction requirements (no other workplace), each can deduct their expenses for this up to the maximum amount of 1.250 Euro as business expenses. In future, therefore, the "object-related" view will no longer apply, but a "person-related" view, so that each user can deduct their share of the costs either up to 1.250 Euro, in unlimited amounts or not at all (BFH rulings of 15.12.2016, VI R 53/12 and VI R 86/13).
