Online message – Friday, April 26, 2024
Income tax | Advertising costs and household-related services (FG)
Expenses for a home office are not to be taken into account as business expenses if a company office is also available and this is not the case even if the Stpfl. uses the home office for professional purposes on retirement days and other non-working days (FG Münster, judgment of December 15, 2023 – 12 K 1090/21 E; appeal not permitted).
Facts:
The plaintiffs are married couples and, among other things, earned income from employment. They lived in a single-family home in which there was a study for the plaintiff on the ground floor. The plaintiff has a 5-day week and uses the office provided by his employer together with another colleague.
During the years in dispute, the plaintiffs used the services of a so-called washing service and claimed this as a household-related service. The laundry service includes washing, cleaning and ironing laundry outside of your own household. They also explained the costs of staff for a private birthday party as household tradesman services. The recognition of the home office and the recognition of household-related services in the years in dispute are controversial.
As part of the lawsuit brought in this regard, the plaintiff took part in a seminar that enabled him to overcome his lack of knowledge in the area of the lawsuit against the FA and claimed that these (training) costs should be taken into account as business expenses.
DThe judges of the FG Münster stated, among other things:
Contrary to the plaintiffs’ opinion, the costs of the seminar “do not represent training costs in relation to the plaintiff’s income from employment. However, like the court fees and the costs of inspecting files at the FG, they are proportionate as legal costs against the plaintiff’s income from employment deductible.
The costs of the plaintiff’s home office cannot be deducted as business expenses from the plaintiff’s income from employment in all years of the dispute.
According to Section 9 Paragraph 5 in conjunction with Section 4 Paragraph 5 Sentence 1 No. 6b Sentence 1 EStG, a taxpayer cannot generally deduct expenses for a home office as business expenses. This only does not apply if another workplace is not available for the company or professional activity (Section 4 Paragraph 5 Sentence 1 No. 6b Sentence 2 EStG). In this case, the amount of deductible expenses is limited to €1,250; the height restriction does not apply if the study is the center of the entire operational and professional activity (Section 4 Paragraph 5 Sentence 1 No. 6b Sentence 3 EStG).
According to the case law of the BFH, an “other workplace” within the meaning of Section 4 Paragraph 5 Sentence 1 No. 6b Sentence 2 EStG is basically any workplace that is suitable for carrying out office-related work (BFH, judgment of February 26, 2014 VI R 37/ 13, BStBl. II 2014, 570).
The use of a laundry service (washing, ironing, starching, ironing) whose services are provided outside the household are not household-related services according to Section 35a Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 EStG.
The same applies to the use of service personnel in a location outside the Stpfl household. located in the party room.
Those: FG Münster, judgment of. 12/15/23 – 12 K 1090/21 E (GR)
Location(s):
BAAAJ-65955