(2023) How do you claim expenses for business trips?

If your employer sends you on a business trip (off-site work), they will usually cover the costs. If not, you can claim expenses for travel, accommodation, meals, and possibly additional costs such as parking fees or luggage transport as income-related expenses.

It becomes interesting when business trips are combined with personal leisure, for example, if you extend your stay after a conference for a few days of personal holiday. In this case, you can claim the travel costs proportionally. If you were away for two days on business and two days privately, the tax office accepts 50 percent of the travel costs. If the business portion is significantly higher at 90 percent, you can claim the full costs.

Be careful, the tax office usually requires a detailed breakdown of the costs. If your employer paid for the flights and hotel, you must not include these items in your tax return.

Business trip

Even if the company pays for the travel expenses, they usually do not cover meals. If you are working off-site for more than 8 hours a day or are engaged in so-called travel work, such as a lorry or bus driver, you can claim a meal allowance. The amount depends on the duration of your absence. For an absence of between 8 and 24 hours, there is a flat rate of 14 Euro, and for longer absences, 28 Euro per day.

Lorry drivers can claim an overnight allowance of 8 Euro per calendar day as income-related expenses - in addition to the "normal" meal allowance. This applies to the day of arrival or departure and each calendar day with a 24-hour absence during off-site work in Germany or abroad (§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 5b EStG, introduced by the "Act on Further Tax Promotion of Electric Mobility and Amendment of Other Tax Regulations").