Correctly deduct income-related expenses as a pensioner

What allowances are there for pensioners?

In the case of pension income according to Section 22 of the Income Tax Act, a so-called flat rate amount of 102 euros applies when taking business expenses into account.

All pensioners automatically receive this amount as a deduction for business expenses, without actually having to incur any costs to generate the income.

This means that all pensioners with pension income that must be verified and declared will receive a flat rate of 102 euros for income-related expenses on pension income.

Things get interesting if you have actual business expenses beyond this flat rate amount that exceed the flat rate base of 102 euros. Then, instead of the lump sum, you can have the actual advertising costs incurred deducted from your pension income.

What are the advertising costs for pensioners?

In principle, it is always advisable to carry out a precise calculation of the actual business expenses incurred when preparing your income tax return. If the actual income-related costs of your pension income are higher than the flat rate, you should also deduct the actual income-related costs. This allows you to reduce the amount of your pension income more, which, under other circumstances, will result in a cheaper overall income tax assessment.

Which business expenses can be easily deducted from pension income?

Common business expenses that can be deducted from your own pension income include, for example, costs for the tax advisor. Here, however, only the position of the last tax advisor's invoice, which was included in Appendix R.

Furthermore, costs incurred in connection with pension advice can also be deducted. These include, for example, travel costs, telephone costs, postage fees, office supplies, etc.

Fees for legal advice that you have sought in order to legally enforce the amount of your pension income would also be conceivable.

In addition, you can also deduct a flat rate for account management fees of 16 euros as business expenses.

If your total advertising costs exceed the flat rate of 102 euros, then you should In any case, the evidence, invoices and receipts that prove the amount of your estimated advertising costs, store. If the tax office requests evidence to deduct business expenses, you should have these receipts to hand.

Where do you enter the business expenses for pension income?

You enter your pension income and the deductible business expenses in what is known as Appendix R.

At the beginning you enter your income here before moving on to the advertising expenses section. Some well-known and common cost items that you can enter in Appendix R are already partially predefined. Here you usually just have to enter the amount in the appropriate field.

If you are not sure which costs should be entered exactly in which line, you can You can easily provide evidence of your business expenses with the other receipts for your tax return hand over. Ultimately, it is the tax officer himself who decides how the business expenses should be entered in Appendix R.

Alternatively, you can also prepare a corresponding list yourself and enter the total in the advertising costs. To do this, however, you should submit a calculation list to the tax office in addition to the original receipts for business expenses so that the tax officer can better understand how you can determine the total amount of the entered business expenses arrived.

If you are unsure about preparing your own tax return, you can always seek legal advice from an income tax helper or a tax advisor.

In case of doubt and depending on individual circumstances and individual cases, it is entirely recommended that Legal advice should be sought, as advertising costs are only discussed here as an example and in very general terms can be.