Journeys to work, specifically to the primary place of work, are deductible at a commuter allowance of 30 cents per kilometre; in 2021, 35 cents apply from the 21st kilometre, and since 2022, 38 cents apply from the 21st kilometre. In principle, every employee is required to state the exact number of working days in their tax return. The commuter 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, the tax return also asks for business travel days and homeworking days.
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 set 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 if 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 5 Euro per day as business expenses for these days or even the costs for a home office. However, they are not allowed to claim travel expenses due to the lack of journeys. And this is precisely where the tax offices are increasingly focusing, requiring an employer's certificate of the actual working days and, above all, the days on which the primary place of work was visited. The rule that 220 or 230 journeys per year are accepted no longer applies automatically for the Corona years!
(2022): How do I enter travel expenses correctly if the number of my working days changes?
How do I enter different commuting distances if I change employer?
If you changed employer during a tax year, the daily commuting distance and thus the amount of the commuter allowance usually changes as well.
If you changed employer during the year, you can easily enter multiple primary workplaces:
"Primary workplace previous employer"
- Distance 30 km, 80 working days, 5-day week
"Primary workplace new employer"
- Distance 15 km, 150 working days, 5-day week
(2022): How do I enter different commuting distances if I change employer?
How do I enter travel expenses when using different modes of transport?
If you travel to your employer using different modes of transport (car/public transport/passenger in a carpool), it is best to record these with two separate entries, e.g.:
"Primary place of work, transport by car"
- Distance 25 km, 164 working days, 5-day week
"Primary place of work, transport by public transport"
- Distance 25 km, 66 working days, 5-day week
(2022): How do I enter travel expenses when using different modes of transport?
