Draft for the Home Office Act 2021

Mar 3, 2021 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

From 15.2.2021-19.2.2021, the planned Home Office Act (Homeoffice-Gesetz) was open for consultation.

Objectives in the area of tax law:

• Creation of the possibility of non-taxable benefits by the employer for expenses in the area of home office: As part of a home office lump sum, amounts paid by the employer to compensate for costs arising from home office activities can be paid out tax-free. Digital work equipment provided by the employer should not constitute a taxable benefit in kind for employees. Amendments would affect the Income Tax Act 1988 (Einkommensteuergesetz 1988).
• Possibility of crediting expenses for the ergonomic furnishing of the domestic workplace outside of a workroom as income-related expenses.
• Creation of the possibility to apply for differential income-related costs in the home office.
• Adaptation of the Payroll Accounts Regulation (Lohnkontenverordnung).

The main objective in the field of labor law is to create a legal framework that facilitates the conclusion of home office agreements by the parties to the employment contract to a much greater extent than has been possible until now. To this end, the possibility is to be created in the Employment Contract Law Amendment Act (Arbeitsvertragsrechts-Anpassungsgesetze, AVRAG). Likewise, the introduction of a definition for the term "work in a home office" is planned. According to this, this condition exists if "an employee performs work services at home". The term also includes a home in a secondary residence or the home of a close relative or cohabitant. Not only the performance of work using information and communication technology is included, but also the performance of work by other means in the context of an employment relationship, such as the processing of paper documents.

Other planned amendments would concern the Labor Constitution Act (Arbeitsverfassungsgesetz), Employee Liability Act (Dienstnehmerhaftpflichtgesetz), Labor Inspection Act 1993 (Arbeitsinspektionsgesetzes 1993), General Social Insurance Act (Allgemeines Sozialversicherungsgesetz) and the Civil Servants' Health and Accident Insurance Act (Beamten-Kranken- und Unfallversicherungsgesetz).

Draft Home Office Act (Homeoffice-Gesetz)