SteuerGo FAQs

How do I claim commuting expenses?

Many people exceed the 1.230 Euro limit (employee allowance) just through their commute. This is thanks to the commuting allowance. You can claim 30 cents for each kilometre you travel to work (38 cents from the 21st kilometre onwards).

For a distance of 20 kilometres, that's 6 Euro per day. With a five-day week, the tax office assumes 230 working days, so in this example, you would already reach 1.380 Euro. You exceed the 1.230 Euro mark with a commute of just under 15 kilometres. For a six-day week, you can count up to 280 days, for a four-day week up to 190. If you were in the office more often, for example because you didn't take any holiday, you must provide credible evidence to the tax office.

For the commuting allowance, the daily commute is only counted once. You cannot add up the outward and return journeys. It is different if you work at various locations. Field staff, temporary workers or other employees with changing work locations can claim 30 cents for each kilometre travelled.

It doesn't matter whether you travel to work by car, bike or public transport. However, there is a maximum amount of 4.500 Euro per year. Only if you use your own car will travel costs above this be recognised. The tax office also does not require you to use the shortest route. If you save significant time on a longer route, you can also state this in your tax return.

 

Journeys to work, specifically to the primary workplace, are deductible with the commuting allowance of 30 cents per kilometre; since 2022, 38 cents from the 21st kilometre. In principle, every employee is required to state the exact number of days they actually travelled to work in their tax return, as the allowance is only granted for these days. To check whether the number of declared working days is plausible, holiday and sick days must also be declared. Since 2020, business travel days and homeworking days have also been queried.

However, it can be very tedious to determine the exact number of working days. Who keeps a daily tally? And then there are employees who also visit the workplace at weekends, sometimes unexpectedly. Therefore, the tax offices established so-called non-detection limits decades ago. They generally accepted 220 to 230 journeys for a five-day week and 260 to 280 journeys for a six-day week between home and workplace. It should be noted that these are internal limits of the tax offices, and there is no legal entitlement to their application, even though the Munich Tax Court ruled a few years ago that the tax offices should accept 230 days (FG Munich of 12.12.2008, 13 K 4371/07).

So far, so good. But Corona has changed everything. Countless employees were and still are working from home and do not travel to the office or workplace daily. They can claim a flat rate of 6 Euro per day as business expenses for these days or even the costs for a home office. However, due to the lack of journeys, they may not claim travel costs. And this is precisely where the tax offices are increasingly intervening, requiring an employer's certificate of the actual working days and, above all, the days on which the primary workplace was visited. The rule that 220, 230 or more journeys per year are accepted no longer applies automatically!