(2023) For which period can I claim meal allowances?

For the first three months after moving into a second home, you can claim meal expenses as income-related expenses or business expenses. However, it is not possible to deduct the actual costs, only flat rates, the amount of which depends on the duration of your absence from your main home. The following flat rates apply for an absence of:

• 24 hours: 28 Euro
• 8 to 24 hours: 14 Euro

From the fourth month, you can no longer use the meal allowances.

Mr X from Mannheim has been working in Wiesbaden since February 2023 and has a second home there. He travels to his workplace in Wiesbaden every Monday at 6:00 am and returns home to Mannheim every Friday at 4:00 pm. Mr X can claim the following meal allowances:

• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: full calendar day absent: 28 Euro each
• Monday and Friday: absent for at least 8 hours: 14 Euro each
• Saturday and Sunday: no meal allowance

For the first three months, Mr X can claim the following amount: 39 full calendar days: 39 x 28 Euro = 1.092 Euro

And for 25 days with at least 8 hours absence: 25 x 14 Euro = 350 Euro

The three-month period starts anew if you move your employment and second home to a new location. The period also restarts if your employment away from home is interrupted by a temporary assignment at another workplace. This temporary assignment must last at least four weeks. If you change employers at the place of employment away from home, a new three-month period for the deduction of meal allowances does not begin.