What is the non-assessment limit?

Many tax officials may deny their existence. And taxpayers cannot rely on benefiting from them, as there is no legal entitlement to the non-detection limit.

Non-detection limits are amounts – usually small sums – in the tax return that tax officials often do not scrutinise closely and accept without proof.

Here are some examples:

• Working days for travel allowance: For a 5-day week, you can claim 230 working days per year, and for a 6-day week, 280 days.
• Work-related items: You can usually claim costs up to 110 Euro for the purchase and maintenance of work-related items (purchase and cleaning of work clothing) in your tax return without receipts.

 

Trips to work (primary workplace) can be deducted via the commuter allowance in your tax return (Form N). You must specify the exact number of days you actually travelled to work, as the allowance only applies to these days. Holiday and sick days must also be stated. Since 2020, business travel days and home working days are recorded in Form N.

Calculating the exact number of working days can be tedious. To make it easier for you, tax offices have previously set so-called non-detection limits. For a five-day week, this was 220 to 230 trips, and for a six-day week, 260 to 280 trips between home and work. However, these limits are internal and not legally binding. A court ruling stated that tax offices should accept 230 days (FG Munich, 12.12.2008, 13 K 4371/07).

But the pandemic changed everything. Many employees worked and still work from home and do not commute daily. For these days, you can claim a flat rate of 6 Euro per day as work-related expenses (max. 1.260 Euro) or even the costs for a home office. However, you cannot claim travel expenses as no trips took place.

Tax offices increasingly require a certificate from the employer stating the actual working days and especially the days the primary workplace was visited. The rule of 220 or 230 trips per year no longer applies automatically!