(2023)
What can be deducted for employees without a primary place of work?
Some employees do not have a "main place of work" and must report to a fixed meeting point on the instructions of their employer. From there, they begin their work or travel to the work location.
Such meeting points might be a car park or vehicle depot for lorry drivers, coach drivers, bus drivers, tram drivers, taxi drivers, train drivers, train attendants, etc., who always take over their vehicle at the same location.
What is tax deductible?
- Journeys between home and the "meeting point" can only be deducted using the commuter allowance.
- Despite the commuter allowance, you can still deduct meal allowances as business expenses. Since there is no main place of work, you are working away from home. No main place of work is assumed here, only the application of the commuter allowance is required. There is no three-month limit, as each journey counts as a new business trip.
Lorry drivers can claim an overnight allowance of 8 Euro per calendar day as business expenses - in addition to the "normal" meal allowance. This applies to the day of arrival or departure and every calendar day with an absence of 24 hours during a business trip in Germany or abroad (Section 9 (1) sentence 3 no. 5b EStG, introduced by the "Act on Further Tax Promotion of Electric Mobility and Amendment of Other Tax Regulations").
The Federal Fiscal Court has recently ruled that the operational area of a works railway driver constitutes a main place of work and not an extensive work area (BFH ruling of 1.10.2020, VI R 36/18).
Similarly, paramedics and postal workers do not work in an extensive work area for tax purposes but have a main place of work (BFH ruling of 30.9.2020, VI R 11/19; BFH rulings of 30.9.2020, VI R 10/19 and VI R 12/19).
The Federal Fiscal Court has recently ruled that the depot is not the main place of work for a refuse collector if they only listen to the tour instructions, collect the tour book, vehicle documents and keys, and check the vehicle lights (BFH ruling of 2.9.2021, VI R 25/19). This means refuse collectors can claim additional meal expenses of 14 Euro per day for tax purposes if they are away from home for more than eight hours. They do not need to be away from the depot for more than eight hours.
