Which special expenses can be taken into account in the tax return?
September 9, 2022 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Wolfgang Stricker
Dear tax advisor,
My name is Albrecht Schneider and I am currently in the process of preparing my tax return for the past year. I am wondering which special expenses I can take into account in my tax return to minimize my tax burden.
To provide you with some background information: I am an employee and earn an average salary. In addition to my main job, I also have a small secondary income from freelance work. Furthermore, I attended several further education courses last year for which I had to pay course fees. I also incurred medical expenses that were not covered by my health insurance.
I am unsure which of these expenses can be claimed as special expenses and how to correctly report them in my tax return. I am concerned that I may be missing out on potential tax benefits by not considering these expenses.
Therefore, my question to you is: Which special expenses can be taken into account in my tax return? How can I ensure that I correctly report all possible expenses to benefit from tax advantages? Are there specific documents that I need to provide for each expense?
Thank you in advance for your help and support.
Sincerely,
Albrecht Schneider
Dear Mr. Schneider,
Thank you for your question regarding the consideration of special expenses in your tax return. It is very important to be aware of all possible expenses and to report them correctly in order to benefit from tax advantages and not to give away money. In the following, I will give you an overview of the special expenses that you can consider in your tax return.
As an employee with an average salary, you can claim certain expenses as special expenses to minimize your tax burden. These include, for example, travel costs between your home and workplace, work-related items such as professional literature or office supplies, as well as training and further education costs. Since you attended some further education courses last year, you can declare the course fees as advertising costs in your tax return. It is important that the further education is related to your current or planned professional activity.
Your small additional income from freelance work can also have an impact on your tax return. In this case, you can claim business expenses such as office supplies, telephone costs, or travel expenses. You can also deduct the costs for your home office if you work there regularly.
Furthermore, you can also declare medical expenses as special expenses if they were not covered by your health insurance. These include, for example, doctor's fees, medications, therapies, or co-payments for medical treatments.
To ensure that you report all possible expenses correctly, it is advisable to keep all receipts and invoices safe. You should be able to provide evidence for each expense in case of an audit by the tax office, to prove that the expenses were actually incurred. You can use receipts, invoices, or bank statements as evidence.
I hope that this information has been helpful to you. If you have any further questions, I am at your disposal.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Stricker
