Field help: Was the home office the centre of professional occupation?

If the home office room represents the centre of your entire professional and business activities, the expenses for the home office room are deductible to an unlimited extent or with an annual allowance of 1.260 Euro.

From 1 January 2023, the recognition of expenses for "home office" and "homework" for tax purposes has been revised, whereby the following two cases are to be distinguished (sect. 4 para. 5 no. 6b and 6c of the Income Tax Act (EStG), amended by the "Annual Tax Act 2022" of 16 December 2022; letter of the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) dated 15 August 2023):

1. The home office room represents the "centre" of all business and professional activities:
   
   In this case, expenses for the home office are — as in the past — deductible in the actual amount or — new — with an annual allowance of 1.260 Euro as income-related expenses or business expenses. However, there must be a "real" home office, meaning a separate room that is used almost exclusively for professional purposes and does not contain any private items. Writers, translators or IT specialists, for example, who work almost exclusively at home, have the centre of their activities in their home office.
   
   
   
2. Not a centre of activity, but the professional activity is (also) carried out at home:
   
   In this case, a daily allowance of 6 Euro can be deducted from tax for each day for a maximum of 210 days, or a maximum of 1.200 Euro per year. In order to receive the daily allowance, the workplace in the home does not have to fulfil any special requirements. It makes no difference whether you work in a work corner, at the kitchen table or in a separate room.