Tax rules for home office furniture
In the future, many more people will go to work from their home office. But how is tax handled if you as an employer want to give your employee a height adjustable desk, an office chair and a lamp at home?
There are several solutions to explore when it comes to providing your employees with furniture that provides a good physical working environment in the home office, but with minimal financial burden on the employee.
As a general rule, the employee is not taxed if the employer provides, for example, an office chair, table and lamp for a home workplace. However, it is a condition that the furnishings must correspond to what is available at the company, both in terms of appearance, interior design and cost. So you can't install a home office with expensive designer furniture if the standard of the workplace is lower.
Tax exemption for the employee requires that:
1. The employer pays for the inventory
2. The furniture is of the same standard as the rest of the office
3. The employer retains ownership of the furniture.
Exception if inventory is taxed as an employee benefit
If the Tax Agency exceptionally assesses that the office equipment should be taxed, the taxable value will be the amount for which the equipment in question can be rented in ordinary free trade during the loan period.
If the home office equipment is mainly provided for work-related purposes, the de minimis limit for work-related employee benefits applies.
The employee must declare the amount if the value of the inventory exceeds DKK 6,500 per year. In the DKK 6,500, you must remember to include the value of any other employee benefits provided for work-related reasons. This could be vaccinations, free food and drinks in connection with overtime, etc.
The value is taxed as B-income. No labor market contribution is payable on the amount.
Free phone, free car and the like should not be included in the DKK 6,500, as these are employee benefits that are always taxed.
Deduction for workroom expenses
If the employee pays the costs of the home office themselves, there is unfortunately a very restrictive practice for the right to deduct in this area, and the employee will generally not be able to deduct expenses for a workroom etc.
In the very special cases where deductions have been granted in practice, emphasis has been placed on the fact that the room in question has changed character so that it is no longer usable as a living room.
Where the employee is exceptionally entitled to a deduction, it should be noted that you can only deduct expenses that exceed a lower limit of DKK 6,500. Any excess amount will be a so-called tax deduction.
The best solution for the employee would therefore be for the employer to cover the cost of the home office.
More information
If you have any questions or need advice and guidance on tax, VAT and duties, you are welcome to contact inforevision'stax department.
