Tax law
BFH: Moving for study cannot be deducted from tax
The home place of work is often a starting point to save taxes. In a current case, this did not work – despite Corona arguments.
If you move to a new apartment to get space for a study, you cannot deduct the relocation costs from the tax. This emerges from a judgment of the Federal Finance Court (BFH). The top German tax court decided against a couple with a child who drove from a three to a five-room apartment in 2020 to have space for two study.
The background was that the plaintiffs suddenly mainly worked in the home office due to Corona – initially especially in the living and dining room. The move should change this situation.
The plaintiffs can deduct the costs for the study itself, but the BFH now said no when it comes to the costs for the move. The couple’s argument that the move was professionally prompted because he improved the working conditions. The decision to use a room as a study in the new, larger apartment or to continue working in the private area of life in a “work corner” is not based on almost exclusively objective professional criteria even in times of a changing world of work, “the court said.
It looks different when changing jobs
Cases in which this is different and a move as well -established, the court also called: this applies, for example, when changing jobs or if the way to work is reduced by at least one hour a day.
The lower courts had sometimes decided opposite. The tax office initially rejected the tax deduction. The financial court, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the relocation costs were deductible. The Federal Finance Court now stood on the side of the tax office.
The judgment with the file number VI R 3/23 fell on February 5, but was only now published by the BFH.
dpa
Source: Stern
