Deduction of income-related expenses for travel ticket despite home office allowance

Time tickets for public transportation can be taken into account in full as income-related expenses, even if the commuting allowance does not cover the purchase price due to work in the home office.

The Annual Tax Act 2020 introduced the new home office allowance for 2020 and 2021. This allows taxpayers to claim income-related expenses for work at home even if there is no workroom there that meets all tax requirements. However, the flat rate of 5 euros per day (max. 600 euros per year) can only be deducted on days when the work is performed exclusively in the taxpayer's own home. The home office flat rate and the commuting allowance are therefore mutually exclusive.

However, the Thuringia Ministry of Finance points out that the tax offices recognize at least the full price of annual, monthly or weekly tickets for public transportation purchased for work-related reasons as income-related expenses, even if the distance allowance to be applied in the respective year is lower. This also applies if the employee has purchased a season ticket in anticipation of regular use for commuting to work, but is then unable to use the ticket as planned due to working in a home office.