Deducting Coworking From Your Taxes: Employees and the Self-Employed

What "tax deductible" really means

Let's clear up the biggest misunderstanding first: deductible does not mean the tax office refunds the price of your desk.

The costs reduce your taxable income – the amount tax is calculated on in the first place. What that's worth depends on your marginal rate. At 30 percent, €1,000 of deducted costs is roughly €300 less tax, not €1,000.

The threshold that comes first: €1,230

Almost every article skips this point, and it decides whether the exercise is worth it at all. As an employee you automatically receive the employee standard deduction of €1,230 a year for work-related expenses – without a single receipt (§ 9a EStG).

Which means: only once your total work-related expenses exceed €1,230 does collecting receipts achieve anything. Only the amount *above* that threshold has an effect. The good news for coworking: a desk costing a few hundred euros a month clears that threshold in the first quarter.

The three routes compared

For a workplace outside the company office, German tax law offers three instruments. They don't rule each other out, but they bite in different places.

The middle row is why the home study is off the table for most people: if you have a workplace at your employer's, your desk at home is rarely the "centre" of your activity. Which is exactly why so many land on the daily allowance – and hit the €1,260.

The question everyone asks: can you combine them?

Yes – just not on the same day. The logic is per-day, which makes it simpler than it sounds.

• On a day at home you get the €6 daily allowance.
• On a coworking day you don't, because you didn't work predominantly in your own home that day.
• Across the year both items sit side by side in the same tax return: the daily allowance for your home days, the membership costs for your coworking days.

So working two days at home and two days at coworking loses you nothing – you simply enter both. Claiming twice for the same day isn't possible, and nobody tries.

Two worked examples

With current Innergarden prices: a dedicated desk at €419 a month is €5,028 a year. A flex desk at €299 a month is €3,588 a year.

Both amounts sit well above the €1,230 standard deduction – at €3,588, roughly €2,358 therefore has an additional effect, assuming no other work-related expenses. And both exceed what the daily allowance can deliver at best.

Remember: you don't get the money back, you reduce your taxable income. What that turns into depends on your rate and on recognition in your individual case. All prices are published openly on the pricing page.

For the self-employed: business expense and input VAT

If you're self-employed or a freelancer, things get simpler, not harder. There's no standard deduction to clear first.

Your coworking desk is a business expense under § 4(4) EStG: incurred for the business, so fully profit-reducing. The membership simply runs through your books.

On top comes the part employees don't have: input VAT deduction under § 15 UStG. Your coworking invoice carries VAT, and if you're on standard taxation – so not using the small-business rule in § 19 UStG – you reclaim that VAT through your return. For you, the net price is the real price.

The trap few people know: first place of work

This deserves a careful moment, especially if your employer wants to formalise the arrangement. If they permanently assign you to the coworking space as your work location, it can become your "first place of work" for tax purposes.

The consequence doesn't affect the membership but your journeys: instead of travel costs at actual expense, only the commuting allowance for the one-way distance applies – as with any trip to an office. Whether that's better or worse for you depends on the distance.

Which proof to keep

Your chances are good if you pay for the desk yourself, use it for work, your employer doesn't cover it tax-free, and private use stays the exception. The rest is a tidy folder.

• Contract or membership agreement
• Monthly invoices and proof of payment, such as bank statements
• Booking or usage history – with a flex desk this does the evidential job the contract does for a dedicated desk
• If possible, a short confirmation from your employer that remote work is permitted and the desk isn't reimbursed
• A simple list of which days you worked at home and which at coworking – it doubles as the record for the daily allowance

For tax purposes, a dedicated desk and a flex desk work equally well. The dedicated desk is a little easier to evidence because it's permanently yours; with a flex desk, the booking history handles that.

The "may be tax deductible" note

You'll see that note on some of our desks. It's a reminder of the core: if you pay yourself and work there, the costs can end up in your tax return. The "may" is deliberate – recognition depends on the individual case, and your tax adviser settles that in a few minutes.