Work Equipment Deductions in Germany: The Complete List for Employees

Work Equipment: The Underestimated Tax Deduction

When most employees in Germany think about Werbungskosten, they think of the commuter allowance or the home office flat rate. But there’s a category that almost everyone underestimates: work equipment (Arbeitsmittel). These are all items and services you need for your job and pay for yourself.

On average, employees miss between €200 and €500 per year in work equipment deductions — simply because they don’t know that the laptop bag, the Zoom subscription, or the professional book are all deductible. Almost everything you need for your job counts.

Important: You can deduct work equipment in addition to the home office flat rate. These are two separate items. You don’t have to choose between them.

What Exactly Counts as Work Equipment?

Work equipment includes all items you predominantly use for your professional activity. The Finanzamt accepts them as income-related expenses (Werbungskosten) in Anlage N of your tax return. The range is broader than most people think.

Electronics and Technology

This is where the biggest amounts are hiding:

• Laptop or PC — fully deductible immediately, regardless of price (special rule since 2021)
• Monitor — immediately deductible (counts as a peripheral device)
• Keyboard and mouse — including premium mechanical keyboards
• Headset and headphones — for video calls and focused work
• Webcam — for home office and virtual meetings
• Cables, adapters, USB hubs — the small things that add up
• Printer and scanner — for work use
• Smartphone — proportional for work use (e.g., 50-70%)
• Tablet — if you use it for work
• External hard drive or SSD — for data backup

Quick math: Monitor (€350) + headset (€80) + keyboard (€120) + webcam (€70) + assorted cables (€30) = €650 — and all immediately deductible because computer peripherals fall under the 1-year rule.

Office Furniture

Furniture for your workspace — whether at the office or at home:

• Desk — up to €800 net immediately, above that spread over 13 years
• Office chair — same rules as desk
• Desk lamp — for work use
• Shelf or filing cabinet — for work documents
• Standing desk converter or monitor riser — ergonomic aids

Software and Digital Subscriptions

Many people forget that digital products are also work equipment:

• Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — proportional if mixed use
• Adobe Creative Cloud — for designers, marketing, content creation
• Developer tools — JetBrains, GitHub, cloud services
• Project management tools — Notion, Trello, Asana (if you pay yourself)
• Zoom, Teams, or Slack — premium subscriptions for work use
• VPN services — when needed for work
• Cloud storage — Dropbox, iCloud, when used for work
• Industry-specific apps — specialized professional software
• Tax apps like Restio — yes, this is deductible too

Books and Professional Development

Anything that advances your career:

• Professional books — print or digital
• Trade journals and subscriptions — including online subscriptions
• Online courses — Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning
• Conference tickets — for professional events

Work Clothing and Cleaning

There’s an important restriction here — only typical work clothing is deductible, not regular everyday clothes:

• Safety shoes and protective workwear
• Lab coats, uniforms, scrubs
• Protective equipment — helmets, gloves, safety glasses
• Cleaning of work clothing — deductible as a flat rate per wash load

Watch out: A regular suit or business shirt is not deductible, even if you only wear it for work. It must be typical occupational clothing that you wouldn’t wear privately.

Bags, Cases, and Accessories

• Laptop bag or backpack — if primarily used for your work laptop
• Briefcase or document folder
• Protective sleeve for tablet or laptop

Office Supplies and Consumables

Small individually, but they add up:

• Printer paper, toner, ink cartridges
• Pens, notebooks, sticky notes
• Folders, binders, staplers
• Stamps and postage — for work-related mailings

The 10% Rule: Work vs. Personal Use

Not every work item is used exclusively for work. For deductibility, there’s a simple rule of thumb:

• Over 90% work use — the full amount is deductible, no splitting needed
• Under 90% work use — you only deduct the work-related portion

Example: You use your smartphone 60% for work. It cost €800. Deductible amount: €800 x 60% = €480, spread over 5 years of useful life = €96 per year.

For items obviously used only for work (e.g., a second monitor or a headset), the Finanzamt generally doesn’t question it. For smartphones, tablets, or software, you should document the work portion convincingly.

Documentation and Proof

The Finanzamt wants to be able to see receipts — even though you don’t submit them with your tax return. Here’s how to do it right:

• Keep purchase receipts — invoice or register receipt with date and amount
• Document work use — a brief note is enough (“monitor for home office workspace”)
• For mixed use — justify the work portion in writing
• Retention period — keep receipts at least until the objection period for the tax assessment expires (usually 1 year after the assessment)

Tip: Make it a habit to photograph receipts right after purchase. Paper receipts fade quickly and are often unreadable after a few months.

How Restio Helps

In everyday life, work equipment expenses accumulate throughout the entire year. A cable here, a book there. Keeping track without a system is nearly impossible.

With Restio, it becomes simple:

• Scan receipts — photograph the receipt and Restio automatically detects the item, amount, and tax category
• Purchase decisions — ask Restio before buying: “Is a €150 headset deductible?” and get an instant assessment
• Werbungskosten tracker — Restio shows you in real time whether your total Werbungskosten exceed the lump sum of €1,230
• Yearly overview — all work equipment at a glance, with automatic depreciation calculations for expensive items

Try Restio free for 14 days and find out which work equipment you haven’t been deducting.

Conclusion

Work equipment is one of the easiest ways to reduce your tax burden as an employee in Germany. Most items you need for your job are deductible — from expensive software to an inexpensive notebook. The key is to consistently collect receipts and correctly report the work-use percentage.

Especially combined with the home office flat rate and the commuter allowance, you’ll quickly exceed the Werbungskosten lump sum of €1,230 — and then every additional euro counts.