Vaccination centres: trainer's allowance or volunteer allowance for volunteers

The COVID vaccination is a major task. Therefore, there should be a tax reduction for those who volunteer in vaccination or testing centres or mobile vaccination teams. The dedicated volunteers make an important contribution to health protection and combating the pandemic.

In 2020 and 2021, volunteers in vaccination and testing centres could benefit from the so-called trainer's allowance or the volunteer allowance. CURRENTLY, the finance ministries of the federal states and the Federal Ministry of Finance have decided to extend these reliefs for 2022 (source: Ministry of Finance Baden-Württemberg, announcement of 7.2.2022). The following regulations apply for the years 2020 to 2022:

For all those directly involved in vaccination or testing - such as in information sessions or the vaccination or testing itself - the trainer's allowance applies. In 2020, the trainer's allowance was 2,400 Euro, and since 2021 it has been 3,000 Euro per year. Those involved in the administration and organisation of vaccination or testing centres can claim the volunteer allowance. This was 720 Euro in 2020 and increased to 840 Euro from 2021. This also applies to mobile vaccination and testing centres.

Due to tax regulations, volunteers in testing centres can only claim the trainer's or volunteer allowance if the client or employer is a charitable organisation or a public employer, such as the state or a municipality.

For vaccination centres, the federal and state governments have agreed that the trainer's and volunteer allowance can also be considered if the vaccination centre is operated on behalf of a legal entity under public law with the involvement of private individuals or entirely by private individuals.

Both the trainer's and volunteer allowance only apply to remuneration for part-time activities. This is usually the case if these activities do not take up more than one-third of the working hours of a comparable full-time position or if the regular weekly working hours do not exceed 14 hours. Part-time volunteers can also include those who do not have a main occupation, such as students or pensioners.

The allowances are annual amounts granted to volunteers only once per calendar year. For multiple activities for which the trainer's allowance applies (e.g., volunteer in the vaccination area and youth team coach), the income must be added together. The same applies to the volunteer allowance.

If volunteers work part-time in both the vaccination/testing area and the administration/organisation of vaccination and testing centres, both allowances can be considered simultaneously. However, this requires that the activities are agreed upon and remunerated separately.

Doctors' surgeries are not considered COVID vaccination centres in this sense. Therefore, if doctors pay staff a bonus for additional work, the trainer's or volunteer allowance cannot be claimed.

Part-time helpers are generally considered employees and therefore earn income from employment. The occasionally held view that self-employed income may be involved is not shared by the tax authorities, as far as can be seen. The allowances of 3,000 Euro or 840 Euro can also be taken into account by the employer when calculating income tax. In this case, however, the employee must confirm in writing to the employer that the respective allowance has not already been "used" elsewhere. The employer must include the declaration in the payroll account.

If pharmaceutical staff were employed in the vaccination centres and received their remuneration from the pharmacy chamber, no income tax was usually deducted in 2021 because there were apparently special agreements between the tax authorities and pharmacy chambers. The income must then be declared and taxed in the respective employee's tax return. Caution: From 2022, this concessionary regulation is no longer expected to apply, meaning that income tax must also be paid for pharmaceutical staff if the tax-free allowances are exceeded.

(2022): Vaccination centres: trainer's allowance or volunteer allowance for volunteers

Which tax-free expense allowances do I need to declare?

If you have received tax-free expense allowances, please enter them here. This includes allowances received from public funds, a federal or state fund.

Employees often receive a tax-free expense allowance from a part-time job. This could be a role as an instructor, educator, trainer in the sports sector or as an artist such as a choir director or musician, and also as a carer for sick, elderly or disabled people. It must be an educational or caregiving role.

Payments for such a privileged part-time role are tax and social security-free up to 3,000 Euro (until 2020: 2,400 Euro). The condition for the tax benefit is that the role is part-time, carried out for a charitable organisation or a legal entity under public law, and serves charitable, benevolent or religious purposes.

The allowance of 3,000 Euro is granted per person only once, even if you have several eligible roles. It is therefore personal and not job-related. The allowance is an annual amount. Therefore, payments up to the maximum amount remain tax-free even if you do not carry out the eligible role for the entire year.

As a supporter of such an organisation, you can receive part or all of your expense allowance tax-free. Any amounts exceeding the allowance of 3,000 Euro must be taxed. If your expense allowance is less than 3,000 Euro, you can only claim the lower amount.

Ms Meier teaches at a music school and receives 2,800 Euro annually for this. She also supervises a gymnastics group at the primary school and receives another 400 Euro per year for this. Both roles are tax-privileged under § 3 No. 26 EStG, but only up to a total of 3,000 Euro. Ms Meier must tax the remaining 200 Euro.

(2022): Which tax-free expense allowances do I need to declare?

When should I declare income as a cross-border commuter?

If you live in a border area and commute daily to work in a neighbouring country, you are a so-called cross-border commuter. Regarding your income, the following applies in most neighbouring countries: you must pay tax on your salary in the country where you work; the income remains tax-free in the country where you live. However, your foreign income is included in the progression clause and thus increases the tax rate for your other income.

The information must be provided in "Form N" and "Form N-AUS" or Form N-Gre. Form N-Gre concerns foreign income from employment for cross-border commuters from Baden-Württemberg to Austria, Switzerland, and France.

If you are single, work as a cross-border commuter, and have no additional income in Germany, you do not need to worry about the progression clause in Germany.

Exceptions: For France, Austria, and Switzerland, a special cross-border commuter regulation applies under the respective double taxation agreement.

If you work in France or Austria, you do not have to pay taxes there but must declare the wages in your German tax return and pay tax as normal. Civil servants or public sector employees, however, pay tax on their income in the country where they work, as the principle of the paying state applies here.

If you work as a cross-border commuter in Switzerland, your employer may deduct a wage tax of 4.5 percent, which is credited against the tax in Germany. If you are a civil servant or public sector employee, you must pay tax on your income entirely in Germany.

Please note that during the coronavirus period, there are special regulations for cross-border commuters, as many employees are or were working from home and do not or did not commute daily (see also: Double taxation agreements and other agreements in the tax sector).

(2022): When should I declare income as a cross-border commuter?

What is the "Special Cross-Border Commuter Regulation"?

This regulation applies to commuters who live in Germany and commute to work in France, Austria, or Switzerland. This is regulated in the respective double taxation agreements. If you work in one of these countries, you must pay tax on your income in Germany and not in the country where you work. However, this only applies if your place of residence and work is in the border zone of the respective country. For France, the border zone is 20 km on either side of the border, for Austria it is 30 km. In Switzerland, there is no such border zone.

There was also a special cross-border commuter regulation with Belgium until 2003. However, since 2004, the general regulation applies. This means for cross-border commuters to Belgium: The salary is no longer taxed in the country of residence, Germany, but in the country of employment, Belgium. In Germany, the income is exempt from tax but included in the calculation of the tax rate. However, there is a special tax regulation for commuters from Belgium to Germany: Belgium as the country of residence exempts the wages taxed in Germany as the country of employment and only includes them in the calculation of the tax rate. However, this income is included in the Belgian municipal tax, which is an additional tax on income tax. To offset this Belgian municipal tax, German income and wage tax on this income is reduced by a flat rate of 8%.

(2022): What is the "Special Cross-Border Commuter Regulation"?

Who receives wages without tax deduction?

In the tax return, you must also enter wages in "Form N" from which no income tax was deducted. This may apply to wages from a foreign employer that are taxable in Germany, as well as wages paid by third parties where the employer was not obliged to deduct income tax.

Such income without tax deduction may be eligible for hardship relief if it does not exceed 820 Euro.

Important: You do not need to enter a part-time job here. For this employment, the employer pays flat-rate taxes and social security contributions. The part-time employee does not pay any taxes or insurance contributions. You do not need to declare the income from the part-time job in the tax return.

However, it is also possible that the part-time job is taxed monthly according to income tax details (ELStAM). In this case, the part-time job must also be declared in the income tax return under “Employees > Income tax statements”. Your employer must provide you with an income tax statement in this case.

(2022): Who receives wages without tax deduction?

Do I need to declare my part-time job in my income tax return?

A mini job is a form of marginal employment (520-Euro job). This applies if the monthly wage does not regularly exceed 520 Euro (from 1.10.2022, previously 450 Euro). When checking if the earnings limit is exceeded, the regular monthly wage is used as the basis.

The regular monthly wage is calculated based on the number of months for which employment with wages exists. The assessment period covers a maximum of 12 months.

For this employment, the employer pays flat-rate taxes and social security contributions. The employee in marginal employment does not pay any taxes or insurance contributions.

You do not need to declare income from marginal employment in your tax return.

Exception: If the employer does not choose flat-rate wage tax for the mini job, wage tax is deducted from the wages according to the wage tax details held by the relevant tax office. In this case, you will also receive a wage tax certificate from your employer for the mini job. Only in this case must the data from the wage tax certificate be declared in the income tax return.

Until 30.9.2022, marginal employment (mini job) applied if the wages did not exceed 450 Euro per month (§ 8 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 SGB IV). Significant changes for mini jobbers and their employers came into effect on 1 October 2022. The marginal employment limit is now 520 Euro instead of 450 Euro and is also dynamically structured.

This means: The mini job limit increases if the minimum wage, currently 12 Euro per hour, rises further. It is now legally regulated that the marginal employment limit may only be exceeded twice within a year. Specifically: If the average monthly earnings exceed the earnings limit of 520 Euro, it is no longer a mini job. However, for marginal employment, it is not a problem if the marginal employment limit is exceeded only "occasionally and unforeseeably".

"Occasionally" means an exceedance of up to two calendar months within a year. Furthermore, the exceedance may not exceed 520 Euro per month, so that over the year a maximum income up to 14 times the mini job limit is possible. A mini jobber may therefore generally earn 6,240 Euro and in justified exceptional cases up to 7,280 Euro within twelve months.

(2022): Do I need to declare my part-time job in my income tax return?