Federal Council plans to simplify tax deductions for professional expenses
Published: Friday, Dec 8th 2023, 15:41
Updated At: Friday, Dec 8th 2023, 15:41
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Tax deductions for employees' professional expenses such as travel to work, work clothes and meals away from home are to be simplified. Following the consultation process, the Federal Council has decided to have a model with a flat rate and separately itemized travel expenses drawn up.
The simplification of professional expense deductions met with broad approval in the consultation process, the Federal Council wrote on Friday. However, opinions differed on the implementation of the proposal. The Federal Council has therefore adjusted the key parameters for the proposal.
Also in cantons
Originally, the Federal Council planned a flat rate including commuting. It wanted to give self-employed workers the option of claiming the lump sum or the actual costs on their tax return. With the simplification, there should no longer be a difference between working at the company and working from home.
According to the Federal Council's plans, the lump sum should also apply in the cantons. However, the cantons have now demanded that travel costs and accommodation costs for weekly stays away from home should not be included in the lump sum, as the Federal Council writes. These costs could vary greatly from case to case.
The Federal Council has now ordered a bill with a lump sum and a separate deduction for travel costs to the workplace and also housing costs for weekly stays away from home. This is intended to take account of cantonal and regional differences in transport infrastructure.
The Federal Council also wants to prevent many taxpayers from wanting to deduct the actual costs from their taxes due to the high costs of commuting or living away from home during the week. In its eyes, this would jeopardize simplification.
With the lump sum, the Federal Council wants to exclude proof of actual costs. This concerns the cost of meals out as well as, for example, the cost of professional clothing, specialist literature or furnishing a study.
The Federal Council writes that this will also ensure the goal of neutrality with regard to forms of work for the elements of the lump-sum deduction. The Department of Finance is to prepare the ordered bill by the end of 2024.
Amount of the lump sum still open
Incidentally, the Federal Council does not want to set the amount of the flat-rate deduction until later and wants to make the change for direct federal tax "revenue-neutral", as it writes. Last December, there was talk of a figure in the region of CHF 6,000.
In the cantons, the amount of the lump sum and thus the financial consequences depend on their decisions, as the Federal Council writes. The cantons can determine the lump sum on their own authority.
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