The Federal Fiscal Court has ruled that an employee can deduct expenses for a car parking space in addition to the expenses for the rented apartment as income-related expenses from his income from employment as part of a double household management.
Practical example:
The plaintiff, whose main residence is in Lower Saxony, rented a second home in Hamburg for professional reasons. The monthly rent including ancillary costs was above the amount of € 1,000, which the tax office recognizes as the maximum amount for accommodation costs and therefore income-related expenses (Section 9 (1) sentence 3 no. 5 sentence 4 of the Income Tax Act). In addition, the claimant rented a parking space for € 170 per month. The rental agreement for the parking space was linked to the residential rental agreement in terms of term and notice period. The claimant claimed the parking space costs as income-related expenses in addition to the rent for the apartment. The tax office allowed the apartment rent in the amount of € 1,000 per month as income-related expenses, but denied the deduction of the parking space costs, referring to the maximum amount that had already been exhausted. The tax court upheld the claim. The BFH confirmed its opinion.
Although the deduction of income-related expenses for accommodation costs in the context of dual household management is limited to € 1,000 per month, the expenses for a parking space at the second home are not subject to this deduction restriction. This is because these expenses are not incurred for the use of the accommodation, but for the use of the parking space. They are therefore deductible as income-related expenses if necessary. The necessity of renting a parking space was affirmed in the present case due to the tight parking situation in Hamburg.
Important: The structure of the parking space costs in the rental agreement is irrelevant for deductibility. It is therefore irrelevant whether the parking space is rented together with the apartment in a rental agreement or through a separate rental agreement. It is also irrelevant whether the landlords are different people. The BFH has thus expressly deviated from the opinion of the tax authorities in the BMF letter dated 25.11.2020 (ref. IV C 5-S 2353/19/10011:006) in favor of taxpayers.