In order to provide some relief for the many people who are working in the home office precisely because of the pandemic, the grand coalition wants to introduce a flat tax rate.
5 Euro flat rate per day
Those who work from home at the moment automatically have higher costs. Whether electricity, water or heating costs, working from home also increases costs. Just now with the Corona pandemic this affects a lot of employees. These are to be relieved now with a change of the annual tax law. How the whole is to look, is not yet finally decided. Roughly, there will be a flat rate of 5 euros per day, but up to a maximum of 600 euros per year. Whether the lump sum is granted in addition to the employee allowance of 1,000 euros or is to be credited against it is not yet clear. The tendency of the Federal Ministry of Finance, however, is more in the direction of crediting. Thus only who has over 1.000 euro of advertising expenses, will profit. Otherwise it would be an “excessive favour”, so the Ministry of Finance. Above all it is also about not spending the whole year in the home office and then receiving a lump sum for it.
One billion Euro relief for citizens
With the introduction of the lump sum, there should be a total relief of one billion euros for German citizens. In particular, it is intended to respond to outdated case law on the subject of “study rooms”. Up to now, unfortunately, a settlement is only possible if a separate room, which almost exclusively serves as a study, is used. This proposal originally came from an initiative of the states of Bavaria and Hesse, which were looking for a solution in the sense of employees.
