(2022) What expenses can be claimed for a second household?

If you need to maintain a second home for work reasons, you can claim the associated costs as part of a dual household. This is possible, for example, if you are transferred, your company relocates, or you start a new job. You can also deduct your expenses if you move for personal reasons but want to keep a home near your workplace. It is not necessarily crucial that the second home is closer to the workplace, but it must be more accessible.

It does not matter whether you live in your own flat, a shared flat, a furnished room, or a hotel. If your primary residence is a room in your parents' house, you are at a disadvantage. It is different if you have your own flat in your parents' house and pay rent for it.

The costs for a dual household are varied: Firstly, there are the expenses for the flat itself, such as rent, utility costs, and possibly renovation expenses or estate agent fees. Then there are expenses for necessary furnishings.

For a dual household in Germany, the actual accommodation expenses can be deducted up to a maximum of 1.000 Euro per month with proof.

In the first three months, you can also claim a meal allowance for each day of absence. This is 28 Euro for each full calendar day. On arrival and departure days (home trips), a meal allowance of 14 Euro each has been granted since 2014, regardless of the length of absence.

An important item is the travel costs for family home trips. Once a week, you can claim the distance allowance of 30 cents per kilometre or 38 cents from the 21st kilometre for the journey between the second home and the main residence. If you use public transport, the actual costs can be deducted with proof, provided they are higher than the distance allowance on an annual basis. If you use a plane or ferry, the actual costs can always be additionally deducted as income-related expenses. If you do not travel home at a weekend, you can claim the costs for a telephone call of up to 15 minutes instead of the home trip. However, this only applies if family members live in your main home.

Note: The Federal Fiscal Court has recently ruled against the tax authorities that the costs for the necessary furnishing of the second home as part of a work-related dual household do not count as accommodation costs, the deduction of which is limited to 1.000 Euro per month. Instead, expenses for furnishings and household items - if necessary - are fully deductible as other necessary additional expenses due to a dual household in accordance with § 9 para. 1 sentence 3 no. 5 EStG (BFH ruling of 4.4.2019, VI R 18/17).

 

Currently, the tax authorities have announced a welcome simplification rule: If the purchase costs for the furnishings and equipment of the second home - excluding work equipment - do not exceed a total of 5.000 Euro including VAT, it is assumed for simplification purposes that these costs are considered "necessary" or not excessive and are recognised as income-related expenses without further examination (BMF letter of 25.11.2020, BStBl 2020 I p. 1228, para. 108).