(2023) When can I claim professional literature?

If you use professional literature for your work, you can deduct expenses for books, journals, and newspapers. Professional books with a clear title indicating their professional use are readily accepted.

For general educational books, proving professional use is more difficult. However, you should know that a rejection by the tax office with the reason that it is not a professional book is not sufficient. The actual use of the book is what matters. You must prove to the tax officer that you use the book professionally. You can also deduct magazines as professional literature (professional magazine, professional journals) if they are professional journals that provide job-related information.

The deductibility of magazines is complicated by the fact that many magazines cover a wide range of topics and do not exclusively provide job-related information. In such cases, the magazines are not recognised. A similar issue arises with the deductibility of newspapers.

Typical daily newspapers cannot be deducted due to their extensive range of topics. Non-typical daily newspapers, such as the Handelsblatt, can be deducted if you can prove predominantly professional use. Of course, you must also provide evidence of the expenses for professional literature. If you have not collected the relevant receipts, you can enter the amount of 110 Euro without proof.

However, this is not an allowance to which you have a legal entitlement, but merely a non-objection limit. Up to this amount, tax officers should waive receipts. The non-objection limit applies to work-related items in general. So if you have already used the 110 Euro for work clothing, proof of expenses for professional literature is required.