Ask a tax advisor on the topic of Income tax return

Deducting craftsmen services

August 14, 2012 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Yanqiong Bolik

Good day,
I have purchased a condominium together with my life partner.
We have had some renovations done and the total labor costs on the invoices will probably amount to approximately TEUR 12, so that each of us could claim a tax deduction of 1200.
I have a couple of questions:
1. Currently, we are registered at different addresses. How should the invoices be issued? The tax office told me that for simplicity's sake, we could already use the new address for the invoices. The tax office wouldn't mind that we are not yet registered there. Is that okay? If not, would the invoicing craftsman have to mention both addresses in the address field or even split the invoice? This seems quite impractical to me.
2. The down payments were made from my checking account because I have online banking and my partner's bank is located further away. However, the money comes from a loan that we both share. It was just paid out to my checking account. Is this a problem? The lady from the tax office was a bit unsure about this. However, I read online that invoices only need to be paid by bank transfer. The transfer doesn't even have to be made by the invoice recipient (i.e. the person claiming the tax deduction). Therefore, I can't quite understand why the tax office sees this as a problem.
If necessary, this issue could possibly be resolved by my partner taking over the remaining payments. However, this would be somewhat cumbersome and it is likely that a 50:50 ratio could no longer be maintained. This, however, depends on the final invoice.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide some insight into this issue.

Dr. Yanqiong Bolik

Dear inquirer,

Thank you for your inquiry, which I will gladly answer taking into account your commitment and the rules of this platform.

Please note that my explanation is based on the facts presented, and that adding, omitting, changing information, or the ambiguity of the information can change the tax result.

1. The prerequisite for the tax reduction according to § 35a EStG is that the artisan services are provided in a household of the taxpayer located in the European Union or the European Economic Area. Whether the taxpayer is registered at the billing address is irrelevant. However, it is important that the taxpayer has received an invoice for the expenses. This means that you can only claim the expenses for which an invoice is issued to you as the invoice recipient. The same applies to your partner. Therefore, a division of the invoice is probably unavoidable.

2. With regard to payment, it must be noted that the payment must be made to the account of the service provider. The taxpayer can still claim the tax reduction even if the artisan service for which the taxpayer received an invoice was paid from the account of a third party.

I hope I was able to assist you.

If there is still uncertainty, please feel free to use the follow-up function.

Best regards,
Dr. Yanqiong Bolik
Tax consultant
Bildstöckle 6, 70567 Stuttgart
Tel: +49 (0)711 / 2132 1815
Email: info@zdbz.de
www.steuerberatung.zdbz.de