(2025) When can I claim relocation expenses as income-related expenses?

If your relocation is work-related, you can deduct the resulting costs as income-related expenses. A work-related reason is given in the following cases, for example:

• Your employer relocates.
• You move because you have changed employers.
• Your employer has transferred you.
• You significantly reduce the distance between your home and workplace by moving. The daily travel time should be reduced by at least one hour.
• You move into or out of a company flat.
• You move to the place of work to end a second household.

Expenses incurred by the taxpayer for a move to another home to (first) set up a home office are not deductible as income-related expenses (BFH ruling of 05.02.2025, VI R 3/23, BStBl 2025 II p. 650).