If you use your smartphone regularly for work, you can deduct it from your taxes and save money. TECHBOOK asked an expert what needs to be considered when filing a tax return.
There are two ways to deal with so-called advertising costs if you want to deduct the smartphone from your taxes. Either an income-related flat rate of 1000 euros per year can be claimed, which the tax authorities automatically offset against each employee. Or the income-related expenses can be listed item by item. However, this only makes sense if the advertising costs exceed the amount of 1000 euros per year.
Christina Georgiadis from the United Income Tax Aid said to TECHBOOK: “If that’s the case, spending on smartphones can be interesting. The following applies: Regardless of whether you want to deduct the purchase or operating costs of your mobile phone – in both cases you must be able to credibly demonstrate to the tax authorities that you are also using the device for professional purposes”.
So you can deduct a smartphone from the tax
How much you can deduct from the acquisition costs of your smartphone depends on the proportion of professional use. With 60 percent professional use, 60 percent of the expenses can also be deducted. However, the professional use must be proven, otherwise the tax office will reject the item in most cases.
Georgiadis: “Everyone whose job description and range of activities are suitable for using smartphones has good chances – such as journalists, scientists, but also pastors and insurance employees in the field. If there is a close connection between work and mobile phone use, tax credit for up to 80 percent of the costs is quite possible. A corresponding written certificate from the employer is of course also helpful.”
Tax expert Georgiadis also has two tips for anyone who wants to deduct the cost of purchasing a mobile phone:
- Keep a kind of “smartphone diary” for three months. In it you should enter the date, duration and reason for use. A single connection statement from your cell phone provider can serve as proof of the calls made. Incidentally, such a diary is also useful if you want to deduct the operating costs.
- If there is no “smartphone diary”, there may be another way: if job and professional use of the smartphone match and you can informally explain this context in a letter attached to the tax return, the tax office generally assumes a 50 percent professional usage share – even if no further proof is available. However, there is no legal entitlement to this concession.
By the way: The price of your smartphone also plays a role if you want to deduct the acquisition costs of the communication device from tax. The reason: If the phone was more expensive than 800 euros (net), you cannot claim the purchase in one go. Instead, you have to write off the costs, including the sales tax paid, on a monthly basis over a period of five years. So you have to divide the total price of the device by 60 months, then you get the partial amount for one month. Also, keep in mind that you can only deduct that part of the costs associated with professional use.
Recover operating costs (partially).
As a rule, you can also share the costs for telephoning, internet use, etc. with the tax office if the smartphone is used professionally. Georgiadis: “In principle, the same conditions apply that also apply to the acquisition costs. You can remember the following rule of thumb: With credible justification, but without more detailed evidence, the tax office usually accepts a flat rate of 20 percent of the expenses, but a maximum of 20 euros per month. If you want to sell more, the above-mentioned ‘smartphone diary’ can make sense, in which you have to record your usage behavior over a period of three months.”
Also interesting: Did you know what the tax office knows about you?
Easier deductibility prevented by federal states
In 2021, a so-called immediate depreciation or depreciation for wear and tear (AfA) was actually planned. That was decided on January 19, 2021 by the then Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states in a video conference. This instant depreciation should also apply to some digital assets such as smartphones.
A retrospective immediate write-off as of January 1st, 2021 would have been possible. It was therefore planned to be taken into account for tax purposes in the year of acquisition. At the state level, however, some representatives opposed it in February because of legal concerns. An implementation is therefore only a little further away and is still not planned.