Business trips
As a self-employed person, you may travel as part of your job to meet clients or business partners. Here you can find out which costs are tax-deductible.
What kind of expenses are tax-deductible?
Transport: flight, train, taxi, bus, car sharing and private car use (see details below)
Accommodation: hotel, holiday flats, etc.
Food (see below)
What are the requirements for a business trip?
The main purpose of the trip must be related to your self-employment.
The trip was paid for either by you personally or, to facilitate the organization, by your business partner.
What if my trip is only partly for business?
If the main purpose of the trip is pleasure, then you usually cannot claim the travel expenses for tax purposes.
If the main purpose of the trip was business, and you took additional days off before or after, you can still deduct part of the travel expenses.
How can you deduct part of the travel expenses?
In general, you can claim the travel expenses in full. Only the part of the stay that was not business-related should not be included.
How should I prove my business travel expenses?
Travel expenses can be quite high and thus alarm the tax office. Therefore, it is important that you can prove your expenses with appropriate receipts and that you can credibly show that they are indeed relevant to your business.
You should therefore keep all information that can help you to prove the connection of the trip with your business.
Examples of evidence include email conversations with clients, accurate time tracking, itineraries and booking confirmations.
Subsistence expenses
Unlike other expenses, you cannot declare these expenses on the basis of receipts. Instead, there is a flat rate that you can use depending on the length of your trip.
The meal allowance can only be deducted if you paid for the meals yourself and not, for example, if they were paid for by your client.
Traveling in Germany
For a day trip that lasts longer than eight hours, you can specify a flat rate of 14 euros (12 euros in 2019). For a trip lasting several days, a flat rate of 28 euros (24 euros in 2019) applies for a full day and an additional 14 euros (12 euros in 2019) each for the day of arrival and departure.
Example:
You were on a 4-day business trip to meet clients in Germany. For the day of arrival and departure, you charge 2 x 14 Euros. For the two full days, you charge 2 x 28 euros. In total, you can deduct 84 euros for food costs.
Traveling outside Germany
There is a different daily rate for each country in the world. Simply enter the country of travel in your statement, and we will find the right rate for you.
Driving a private car on a business trip
If you start your business trip with your own car that does not belong to your company, you can deduct the travel costs as part of the trip.
The amount of the deduction depends on the distance traveled and is calculated by multiplying the total distance by 0.30 euros. For example, if you traveled from Berlin to Munich (584 kilometers each way, 1168 kilometers round trip), you can deduct (1168 x 0.3 =) 350 euros from your taxes. All you have to do is document your business trips using our form, and we’ll do the calculation for you.
Record business trips
As a customer of Kontist Steuerservice, your business travel expenses (flight, train, hotel, etc.) are automatically recorded in your current accounting. To take into account the daily flat rate as well as journeys by private car, simply fill out our form and upload it in the app.