Actual costs for home office?

[Nixon]

Hello all,

What are the costs that can be added to the calculation of the Home office expenses for the year of 2024?

I have these:
Home Depreciation: 2% of the (Home purchase price + Notar costs + Real estate transfer tax) - 50% (Land value)
That would be: Absetzung für Abnutzung.

After that I would add following:
Schuldzinsen (I am assuming this is just interest part of the Mortgage payment we have for our apartment, principal should be excluded?)
Grundsteuer
Hausverwaltung (Including energy costs)
Strom
Telekommunikationskosten
Hausratversicherung
Rundfundgebuehren

After adding all of these to the "Absetzung für Abnutzung" I would multiply the sum with percentage of the home office's floor surface vs. home total surface (in my case it is 9.46%) and get the expense which should be subtract from my income.
What I have calculated by now, this expense is a bit higher than Pauschale of EUR 1260.00 for 2024.

Am I missing any costs that can be added to the calculation?

Thanks and Regards,

Nixon.

[PandaMunich]

Yes, you can just claim for the interest part, since you are already claiming for the repayment of the capital through the 2% depreciation of the loaded building price (= building share of price+Notar+Makler+Grunderwerbsteuer).

Telecommunication costs are not part of the home office cost, you get to claim them additionally to the home office.

***********************************************************

If you're a freelancer, don't claim for a separate home office but just for the 1,260€ home office flat rate that you get for working at your kitchen table.
Why?
Because if you are self-employed and own this flat/house, working from home will turn that room from “private asset” to “business asset”, which means that when you stop working from home, e.g. because you stop working in that room because you move your business into bigger rented offices or because you sell your home, the Finanzamt will come and make you tax the increase in value of that room as income, at your own personal income tax rate of up to 42%.

If you are 55 years or older, there is a special tax-free allowance for giving up/selling your business of 45,000€ in §16 (4) EStG, which you can use when stopping to work from your home office. So if you plan to work to over age 55 and think the increase in value of your home office will only be up to 45,000€, by all means work from home and claim for the costs, even if you work self-employed.

[Nixon]

Thank you Panda.

To be honest, I am not sure what I am. I don't think that I am a freelancer, GmbH or something like that.
I am being paid by a US company (London office/entity). They are paying an accounting company in Berlin to do my pay calculation and they automatically pay my social contributions (Kranken/Pflege/Arbeitloss/etc Versicherung) but they are not taking my taxes out. I pay taxes per Bescheid that Finanzamt sends us after we file taxes. You tell me what am I

[PandaMunich]

You're an employee.
Which is good news, since Germany's highest financial court (the BFH=Bundesfinanzhof right here in Munich) has ruled that employees do not suffer from the ill effects that self-employed do when they claim for a home office within their self-owned flat/house: https://datenbank-nwb-de.translate.goog ... r_pto=wapp

--> go right ahead and claim for your home office.

[Nixon]

Thank you Panda.