Travel cost subsidy
November 2, 2009 | 15,00 EUR | answered by Oliver Burchardt
Which option is advantageous. Gross salary of 2400€ and travel allowance of 100€, or gross salary of 2500€ in tax class 1 with a round trip of 57 km per day.
Which option is tax advantageous for the employee.
Dear client,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I am happy to answer as part of an initial consultation. In order to answer your question, I assume that church tax liability exists, that you are required to have statutory health insurance, and that other social security contributions are also incurred according to the legal standard model. Changes to these assumptions can affect the calculation of advantages.
According to § 40 para. 2 sentence 2 EStG, the employer can tax a commuter allowance up to the amount of the statutory flat-rate mileage allowance with a flat-rate income tax of 15%. In addition, the flat-rate taxed amount is exempt from social security contributions.
If you choose a salary of 2,500 EUR and a monthly allowance for the commuter allowance of 256 EUR (assuming an average of 15 trips per month to the workplace), you will achieve a net income of 1,634 EUR.
In the case of the commuter allowance, the monthly allowance is reduced by the flat-rate taxed portion. Therefore, only an allowance of 156 EUR is applied, resulting in a net income of 1,553.85 EUR. However, the commuter allowance must still be added, so that you ultimately receive 1,653.85 EUR.
In conclusion, the design of a lower gross salary, supplemented by a flat-rate taxed commuter allowance, is more favorable in the isolated analysis conducted here.
I hope that my explanations have helped you.
Best regards,
Oliver Burchardt
Tax consultant
