Specific measures for the tax treatment of professional expenses incurred in 2020 for teleworking

PAY – FEES – 03.03.2021

The fight against the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a massive increase in the use of teleworking from home, leading a large number of employees to incur, for the first time, professional expenses made necessary by this unprecedented organization of work. .

In order to guide taxpayers in their income tax return for 2020, the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery has planned, to facilitate the tax treatment of professional expenses linked to teleworking, the following measures:

• The allowances paid by the employer covering the costs of teleworking at home, which may take the form of allowances, lump-sum reimbursements or even reimbursements of actual costs, will always be exempt from income tax.

In practice, it is up to the employers to identify, in the information which they transmit to the tax authorities, these allowances exempt from income tax. Thus, the amount of taxable income pre-filled on the tax return should not, in principle, include such allowances. Employees can make sure of this when declaring their 2020 income, by checking the pre-filled amounts against their payslips (or the annual tax certificate issued by their employer).

• To facilitate the procedures for taxpayers, specific terms and conditions are defined with regard to lump-sum allowances. The latter will be exempt up to a limit of € 2.5 per day of teleworking at home, i.e. an exemption of € 50 for a month including 20 days of teleworking. In any case, the special flat-rate allowance will be presumed to be exempt up to the annual limit of € 550.

This tolerance is applicable if the allowance covers exclusively professional expenses incurred for teleworking at home, with the exception of the running expenses generally required for the exercise of the profession, which include in particular the travel expenses between the home and the place of work. labor and restoration costs.

• For employees who have opted for the deduction of professional expenses for their real and justified amount, the expenses incurred for the needs of their professional activity, when this has been carried out in the form of teleworking at home, may be deducted up to the amounts. mentioned in point 2, the taxpayer retaining the possibility of deducting them for their exact amount if this is more favorable.

Good to know. The terms of application of these measures as well as details on the nature and amount of deduction of the costs related to teleworking, in particular the costs related to the professional use of a private room, will soon be specified on the site. https://www.impots.gouv.fr .

Source : press release n ° 726 of 02.03.2021