When does the home working allowance apply: rules and maximum amount for 2026

Automatically translated from German. · Read original

The question of when the home office allowance can be claimed on your tax return is easy to answer: it applies on any calendar day on which you carry out the majority of your work from home. It does not matter whether you have a separate room or whether you use the kitchen table as a desk.

Key points at a glance

• You can claim 6 euros per day spent working from home.
• The maximum deduction is 1,260 euros per calendar year (up to 210 working days).
• The flat-rate allowance is personal and applies to employees, the self-employed, apprentices and students.
• Unlike under previous regulations, a separate home office is not required.

When can you claim the home office flat-rate allowance?

You are entitled to the daily flat-rate allowance whenever you spend more than half of your daily working hours within your own four walls. The home office flat-rate allowance – officially referred to in the law as the daily flat-rate allowance – covers additional costs for heating, electricity and the use of living space.

Since the permanent reform introduced by the Annual Tax Act 2022, which the Bundesrat passed on 16 December 2022, the tax office no longer imposes strict requirements on the layout of the room. You can claim the allowance regardless of whether you work in a small nook in the living room or in the bedroom. Even those who choose to work from home voluntarily benefit.

As many employees organise their daily lives flexibly, it is clear that working from home is changing the way modern companies structure their teams. To check how such allowances ultimately affect your monthly salary, it is worth taking a look at the Gross-Net Calculator 2026.

Amounts and limits: What the tax office recognises in 2026

Throughout the 2026 tax year, the daily allowance remains unchanged at 6 euros per recognised day. You can claim a maximum of 210 days per calendar year, meaning the maximum amount is capped at 1,260 euros.

Feature	Rules up to the 2022 tax year	Rules from the 2023 tax year onwards (including 2026)
Amount per home office day	5 euros	6 euros
Maximum number of days eligible	120 days	210 days
Maximum annual amount	600 euros	1,260 euros
Is a home office required?	No	No
Legal designation	Home office allowance	Daily allowance

Anyone who works from home for more than 210 days a year receives no tax relief for the remaining days. The limit is reached at 1,260 euros. If two people live in the same flat and both work from home, each person can claim the full amount of the allowance for themselves.

Home office allowance requirements compared to the commuter allowance

In principle, you may not claim both the commuter allowance and the daily allowance for the same calendar day. If you travel to the office in the morning and work from home in the afternoon, you can generally only claim the travel costs as a distance allowance.

For the distance allowance, 30 cents are applied for the first 20 kilometres; from the 21st kilometre onwards, the rate is 38 cents per kilometre. If the one-way journey to work is longer than 20 kilometres, the deduction for the journey exceeds the €6 home office allowance. You can find more detailed information on this in our guide ‘When does the home office allowance apply in 2026? Rules and maximum amount’.

However, there is one key exception: if you do not have access to any other place of work on a permanent basis for your professional activities – as is the case, for example, with teachers – you may deduct both the travel costs to your place of work and the daily allowance of 6 euros for the same day. The Federal Ministry of Finance clarified this in more detail in a letter dated 15 August 2023.

Daily allowance or home office?

You can only claim a genuine home office for tax purposes if it forms the centre of your entire professional activity. In this case, you can either provide evidence of the actual room costs or opt for an annual flat-rate allowance of 1,260 euros.

However, anyone who can use an office workstation provided by their employer does not, as a rule, meet the criterion of the centre of professional activity. For these workers, the only option is the €6 daily flat-rate allowance. Work equipment such as a desk, office chair or work-related telephone and internet costs may be claimed as income-related expenses regardless of the flat-rate allowance.

Bear in mind how this interacts with the employee’s standard allowance of 1,230 euros. The daily flat-rate allowance only has a noticeable effect on your tax liability once your total income-related expenses exceed this threshold.

Supporting evidence: What does the tax authority require?

There is no obligation whatsoever to submit individual receipts for electricity or rent when claiming the daily allowance. However, you must be able to provide the tax office, upon request, with credible evidence of the calendar days on which you actually worked from home.

According to Aktuell Lohnsteuerhilfeverein e.V., a structured overview is advisable:

Our recommendation is that you keep a record or calendar of the days you worked from home and are able to submit this to the tax office.

— Aktuell Lohnsteuerhilfeverein e.V.

Employees simply enter the calculated days in Annex N of their tax return. Self-employed people and freelancers, on the other hand, record the amount as a business expense in their net income calculation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a separate room to claim the flat-rate allowance?

No, a separate, lockable home office is not required. The daily flat-rate allowance also applies to working at the dining table or in a small work area in your home.

Can I claim travel expenses and the home office allowance on the same day?

In principle, this is not permitted for the same calendar day. An exception applies only to certain occupational groups, such as teachers, who do not have access to any other workspace at their primary place of work on a permanent basis.

Does the flat-rate allowance apply multiple times if I have two jobs?

No, the maximum amount of 1,260 euros is available to each taxpayer only once per calendar year. If you have more than one job, you must either split the flat-rate allowance or allocate it to one specific job.

Can apprentices and students claim these days?

Yes, apprentices and students can claim the daily flat-rate allowance for days on which they are mainly studying or working from home. It is taken into account there as part of income-related expenses or special expenses.

Sources: Aktuell Lohnsteuerhilfeverein e.V. · finanztip.de · finanzamt24.de · Steuerbot. As at 22 October 2026.