Purchase of a new computer, fiber optic connection, exploding heating bill… Many employees who worked from home in 2020 had to put their hand in their pocket to pay additional costs. The total can vary from ten to more than a hundred euros per month, depending on this simulator from ConvictionsRH.
This financial effort is variously compensated by the employer: according to another study of this firm, if the vast majority of companies have made a gesture to help their employees to equip themselves, only a third participate in the daily expenses (catering, electricity…).
In order to cover these additional expenses, the government announced that voluntary employers could pay a flat-rate allowance to their teleworking employees. But not all employees have benefited. When completing their income tax return, everyone therefore asks themselves what they can deduct from their taxable income.
Avoid switching to a higher tax bracket
It should be noted that the tax administration already applies an automatic reduction of 10% on professional income, up to a minimum of 442 euros and a maximum of 12,652 euros for the year 2020. This rebate is supposed to compensate for the ongoing costs incurred. by the worker: meals, transport, etc. But it is not intended to cover the exceptional costs generated by the context of the health crisis.
The government had therefore announced an additional gesture: employees benefiting from the flat-rate teleworking allowance – and only the latter – would not see it included in their taxable income, insofar as its amount does not exceed 2.50 euros per day. effective teleworking, up to a limit of 550 euros per year. “This deduction is automatic”, warns Stéphanie Khom, tax lawyer in the human resources consulting firm SVP.
The employee who has benefited from this allowance therefore does not have to modify his income tax return. This does not mean that the employee benefits from an equivalent tax credit, but only that the tax base on which the tax is calculated does not take this additional income into account. “550 euros is nothing at all! “, puts Stéphanie Khom into perspective. But this gesture of the tax administration can avoid switching to a higher tax bracket.
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