Home Office Room vs Flat Rate 2026 (Germany)

You work from home — but how do you deduct it in 2026? There are two routes, and which pays off depends on a single test and a few figures. This guide explains the difference between a real study and the home-office flat rate, when each route gives more, and what you can deduct on top.

In short: The home study (separate room as the centre of your activity) gives actual costs without limit or a flat €1,260/year. The home-office flat rate gives €6 per day, max 210 days = €1,260 — with no separate room. Work equipment like a desk and laptop you deduct on top.

Route 1: The home study

You only deduct a home study if it meets two conditions:

1. A separate room, used (almost) exclusively for work — a work corner in the living room doesn’t count.
2. The centre of your entire professional activity — the essential part of your work happens here.

If both are met, you have a choice:

• Actual costs — proportional rent, electricity, heating, cleaning, without limit by floor-area share.
• Annual flat rate of €1,260 — without proving individual costs, since 2023.

Route 2: The home-office flat rate

If your home is not the centre, or you have no separate room at all, the daily allowance applies:

• €6 per calendar day on which you worked predominantly at home,
• at most 210 days a year → maximum €1,260.

You need no separate room — the kitchen table counts too. On a day with both home office and external work, usually only one applies.

Which route pays off?

	Study	Home-office flat rate
Separate room needed?	yes	no
Centre needed?	yes	no
Amount	actual costs or €1,260	€6/day, max €1,260
Effort	higher (evidence)	low

Rule of thumb: if you have a genuine, exclusively work-used room as the centre of your activity and proportional costs over €1,260, take the actual costs. Otherwise the €1,260 flat rate (annual or daily) is simpler and often just as high.

Worked example

Teacher Petra teaches at school but marks at home 180 days a year. Her home is not the centre (the school is).

• Study? No — no centre.
• Home-office flat rate: 180 days × €6 = €1,080

Translator Ben works entirely from home in a separate office. Proportional room costs: €1,900/year.

• Centre? Yes. Actual costs €1,900 beat the €1,260 flat rate.

Work equipment is added on top

Regardless of the chosen route, you deduct work equipment on top: desk, office chair, laptop, monitor, shelves. Up to €800 net immediately, above that via depreciation. More in Deducting work equipment.

Compare commuting and home office with the commute-vs-home-office calculator. More detail on the flat rate is in Deducting the home office, and what else counts in the deductions list.

Common mistakes

1. Declaring a work corner as a study. Without a separate room it’s struck out.
2. Double-counting home-office and commuting days. Usually only one per day.
3. Forgetting work equipment. It’s added on top.
4. Claiming over 210 days. With the daily allowance, €1,260 is the ceiling.

How Restio helps

Which route gives you more is a small calculation with a few conditions — exactly what Restio takes off your hands:

• Compare routes — tell Restio how you work, and it shows whether the study or the daily allowance gives more.
• Count days — Restio helps you track your home-office days across the year.
• Instant answers — ask in English or German: “Is my room a study in the tax sense?” or “How many home-office days can I claim?”

For borderline cases on the centre test, a tax advisor helps — Restio prepares the figures so the decision is easy.

Deducting home office is possible for almost everyone in 2026 — the only question is which route. Those who know the centre test and the €1,260 limit choose correctly and leave nothing behind. The official rules are explained by the Federal Ministry of Finance.