What can be deducted for an extensive work area?

Are you working in an extensive work area (e.g. factory, exhibition, barracks, airport, shipyard premises)? The question is whether the entire area is considered your "primary place of work" or if you work at multiple locations and therefore engage in off-site work.

An extensive work area exists if the contractually agreed work is to be performed over a specified area and not within a fixed business facility of the employer.

What is tax-deductible?

• The nearest work location within the extensive work area is considered the "primary place of work" and allows for the deduction of the distance allowance (30 cents per kilometre; 38 cents from the 21st kilometre).
• All other journeys within the extensive work area can be deducted with the business travel allowance (30 cents per kilometre driven) or the actual costs, or reimbursed tax-free.
• Absences of more than 8 hours allow for the deduction of meal allowances or tax-free reimbursements, with no time limit (no three-month rule).
• For journeys with a company car to the nearest work location, a surcharge value must be taxed as wages (monthly 0.03% of the list price per kilometre). For other journeys, no taxation of the usage value is required, but no deduction of income-related expenses is possible.

According to the Federal Fiscal Court ruling of 1.10.2020, VI R 36/18, the work area of a works railway driver is considered the primary place of work, not an extensive work area.

Both paramedics and postal workers are not considered to be working in an extensive work area for tax purposes, but each has a primary place of work, as stated in the Federal Fiscal Court rulings of 30.9.2020, VI R 11/19, VI R 10/19 and VI R 12/19.

In a recent decision, the Federal Fiscal Court ruled that a depot is not considered the primary place of work for refuse collectors if only administrative tasks such as listening to instructions from the tour management, collecting tour books, vehicle documents and keys, and checking vehicle lighting are carried out there (Federal Fiscal Court ruling of 2.9.2021, VI R 25/19).

The Federal Fiscal Court recently decided that a dock worker does not work in an extensive work area if they are assigned to specific locations within the Port of Hamburg (Federal Fiscal Court ruling of 15.2.2023, VI R 4/21). Similarly, the Lower Saxony Finance Court ruled that the area of the Port of Bremerhaven is not considered a large primary place of work if it is partially used by the employer but does not entirely serve the employer's activities (Lower Saxony Finance Court ruling of 2.9.2022, 4 K 149/21).