The acquisition costs for computer hardware and software should in future be fully tax deductible in the year of acquisition. If you have expenses for equipping your home office, you may be able to save taxes. The Federal Chancellor and the Prime Ministers agreed on this in the course of the Corona summit.

After the decision, the new regulation will also apply retrospectively from January 1st 2021. The federal and state governments want to use tax incentives for the acquisition of computers and accessories such as screens, printers and keyboards as well as software to fuel the economy and promote digitization.

Previous regulation As the Finanztip portal explains, computers and software have so far only been available up to a price of around 950 euros in the year of purchase be fully deducted from tax. If the new equipment was more expensive, it had to be written off: The costs were divided by the number of expected years of use (for computers: 3 years) and only one percentage could be taken into account per year of use.

For whom nothing changes? Anyone who costs less than 950 Euro for his computer for whom nothing changes – costs up to the price could already be deducted completely immediately. Even for people who have total advertising costs below 1000 euros, everything remains as before: The employee lump sum of 1000 Euro is taken into account anyway without proof.

Another advantage for home office exiles Already last year there was a new advertising expense regulation, which should bring advantages for people in the home office: For example, people without a dedicated home office should pay a flat rate of 5 euros per day for working days exclusively spent in the home office can deduct – whereby the flat rate is limited to 600 euros per year. Anyone who equips their workplace at home may now have further advantages through the new regulation.

(tdi)