For many employees and self-employed people, the home office has become an important part of their work in the age of the home office. But when and how can you claim costs for such a home office against income tax? And when might the home office be considered business assets?
What is a ‘home office’?
If a room in a private property is used for business/professional purposes and it is a separate room that is ‘comparable to an office’, then it is considered a home office for income tax purposes, whereby the deduction of costs is generally excluded.
A work corner (living room, bedroom, etc.) or a work area that has only been provisionally separated is therefore not a home office: a structural separation is necessary, as are office furniture and, for example, a desk. Such room parts are usually assigned to the private residence.
But not every workroom ‘at home’ is necessarily a home office. Thus, storage rooms, workshops or separately accessible rooms with public access are not classified as home offices. Costs associated with such rooms (e.g. pro-rata rent, etc.) are generally deductible without limit if they are used for business or professional purposes.
Whether a room used for work or business at home is a ‘home office’ must ultimately be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Home office: only deductible as the centre of business or professional activity
From the 2023 assessment period, new rules will apply for deducting costs for a home office in the case of income tax, even though the prohibition of deduction in principle pursuant to § 4 (5) sentence 1 no. 6b EStG remains.
The previous distinction between whether or not another workplace was available for the work has been eliminated in this regard.
If the home office is the centre of the business and professional activity, a proportionate share of the expenses for a home office can be claimed without limit as income-related expenses or business expenses, reducing the income tax liability.
Instead of the actual pro-rata costs, it is also possible to claim a flat rate of €1,260 per year. This makes sense in particular if the actual (pro-rata) expenses are lower than the statutory flat rate.
Which costs are tax deductible?
If it is possible to deduct the costs of a home office, all pro-rata building and ancillary costs are deductible, e.g.
- pro-rata rent and energy costs or a
- pro-rata building depreciation.
The deductible portion is then calculated based on the ratio of the living space of the home office to the total area of the flat or house. In addition, the costs for ‘reasonable equipment’ of the room can be deducted, for example for furniture, etc.
Home office allowance
Ist das häusliche Arbeitszimmer nicht Mittelpunkt der beruflichen Tätigkeit, können dennoch gewisse If the home office is not the centre of your professional activity, you can still claim certain costs to reduce your income tax. The reason for this is the so-called home office allowance.
In this case, you can claim a daily allowance of 6 euros for each calendar day
- on which your business or professional activity was mainly carried out at home and
- you have not used your actual office (‘first place of work’) for work,
you can claim a daily allowance of 6 euros to reduce your income tax.
If there is no other permanent workplace available for business or professional activities, the daily allowance can also be claimed for out-of-town activities or for work at the first place of work.
However, there is also an upper limit here: the home office allowance is limited to €1,260 per year.
‘Centre of business / professional activity’ – what does that mean?
Determining when the centre of business or professional activity lies in a home office can be difficult in individual cases.
According to case law, the focus of the business and professional activity is decisive. This means that the centre of the professional activity is where the actions are taken or the services are provided that are characteristic of the specific profession.
Examples:
According to the Federal Fiscal Court, a university lecturer performs the main part of his work at the university. Similarly, architects who are entrusted with construction supervision etc. do not have the main focus of their work in their home office. However, the Federal Fiscal Court took a different view in the case of an engineer who solves complex problems in his home office.
Home office = partial business assets?
However, the tax relevance of a home office is not limited to the deductibility of expenses.
If the person who uses the home office for self-employment or commercial activities is the (co-)owner of the property in which the home office is located, this home office may be counted as part of the business assets on a pro-rata basis. Whether or not a deduction for business expenses has been claimed is not relevant for the allocation to tax-related business assets; the only thing that matters is the actual use.
Please note! The only exceptions to this are property parts of minor value (less than 20% of the total value and not more than €20,500) used by the owner for their own business.
Employees who use a home office for professional purposes as part of their non-self-employed work are not affected by the issue of business assets.
This classification is important because in this case, an increase in value must be taxed in certain situations. This can significantly increase the income tax burden in a variety of situations if the value of the property increases, for example, if
- the property is sold,
- the business is sold or discontinued, or
- there is a change in use of the property previously used for business purposes.
In addition, there is no 10-year speculation period for business assets.
Please note: agriculture and forestry, partnerships or corporations are not considered in this article.
It depends on the individual case
Taking a home office into account for income tax purposes can be difficult in individual cases.
When which expenses are deductible or when an increase in the value of one’s own property, partly used for business or professional purposes, has an influence on income tax – all this must be examined carefully in each individual case.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Your ACCONSIS contact

Andreas Jovanic
Tax consultant
Authorised signatory of ACCONSIS
Service phone
+49 89 547143
or via email
andreas.jovanic@acconsis.de