How each trip counts
How you deduct a trip depends on where it goes. If you drive your private car to a customer, that is a business trip and every kilometer driven counts at €0.30. If you drive to your own office, the commuting allowance of €0.38 per kilometer of the one-way distance applies. Train, flight, taxi and hotel count at actual cost, and for food on the road there are flat allowances.
| Trip or cost | What you claim | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Business trip in your private car | €0.30 per kilometer driven | § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4a EStG |
| Home to your own place of business | €0.38 per kilometer of the one-way distance | § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 with § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4 EStG |
| Train, bus, flight, taxi | actual cost as per receipt | business expense |
| Meals within Germany | €14 or €28 per day | § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 5 with § 9 Abs. 4a EStG |
| Overnight stay | actual cost as per invoice | business expense |
Business trip or the way to your office
A business trip is any business journey that is not the way between your home and your place of business: to a customer, to a workshop, to a trade fair, to buy office supplies. If you work from home and have no office of your own, your trips to customers are usually business trips.
If you have an office, a coworking desk or a studio you use permanently, that is your place of business. For the daily way there only the commuting allowance applies (§ 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 EStG). It gets harder if you work on site at almost only one customer for a long time. Whether their office then counts like your place of business has been judged differently by the courts depending on the case. Settle that with your tax advisor if it applies to you.
On the road in your own car
For business trips in your private car you claim €0.30 per kilometer driven. The rate comes from § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4a EStG and applies to the self-employed in the same way. There and back both count, so a 120 kilometer round trip to a customer gives €36. The rate has not changed for 2026.
For each trip, write down the date, destination, purpose and the kilometers driven. That record is your receipt, because there is no invoice for it.
If the car is a business asset because you mostly use it for business, other rules apply: you then claim the actual costs and pay tax on private use. That is a topic of its own, best settled with your tax advisor.
The way to your own place of business
Since 1 January 2026 the commuting allowance is €0.38 for every kilometer of the one-way distance, from the very first kilometer. Until 2025 the first 20 kilometers only counted at €0.30. The change came with the Tax Amendment Act 2025 (Steueränderungsgesetz 2025). The self-employed claim it through § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 EStG, which refers to § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4 EStG.
An example: your office is 12 kilometers from your home and you go there on 200 days. That gives 12 × €0.38 × 200 = €912 a year. Under the old rule it would have been €720. What counts is the distance, not the route you drive, and only once a day.
Train, bus, flight and taxi
Tickets, flights and taxi rides count at what you paid. Train journeys within Germany carry the reduced VAT rate of 7 %, long distance included (§ 12 Abs. 2 Nr. 10 UStG). You deduct the VAT as input tax unless you use the small business rule.
A ticket counts as an invoice under § 34 UStDV if it shows the transport company’s name and address, the date of issue and the fare including VAT as one total, plus the tax rate if it is not 7 %. That holds whatever the amount, and a ticket does not need your name. For taxi receipts and other receipts up to €250 gross, an invoice for a small amount with the provider’s name and address, date, service, gross amount and tax rate is enough (§ 33 UStDV). Above that you need an invoice with your name for the input tax.
Meals on the road
For your food on a business trip within Germany you claim fixed allowances, not restaurant receipts. § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 5 EStG refers to § 9 Abs. 4a EStG for them:
- €14 for a day on which you are away from home and place of business for more than 8 hours, and for the arrival and departure day of a trip with an overnight stay, however long you are away on those days.
- €28 for each full day in between.
- Nothing for 8 hours or less.
A trip from Monday to Wednesday with two nights gives €14 + €28 + €14 = €56. These rates are also unchanged for 2026.
For provided meals, § 9 Abs. 4a Satz 8 EStG sets a reduction: by 20 % of the full daily allowance for a breakfast and by 40 % each for a lunch or dinner, so by €5.60 or €11.20. How that applies to a meal a customer invites you to is best settled with your tax advisor. Abroad, each country has its own rates, which the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes every year.
Overnight stays
Hotels and guesthouses count at actual cost as per invoice. The accommodation itself carries 7 % VAT (§ 12 Abs. 2 Nr. 11 UStG). Services that do not directly serve the stay, such as parking, appear on the invoice with their own rate. Breakfast belongs to meals, not to the stay: that is what the allowance is for.
If the invoice is over €250, it must name you as the recipient (§ 14 Abs. 4 Satz 1 Nr. 1 UStG) for you to deduct the input tax (§ 15 Abs. 1 UStG). Give your name when you reserve the room.
What you write down
For each trip you need the date, destination and purpose, the kilometers if you drove, and departure and return times for meal allowances. Keep tickets and hotel invoices as receipts. How the costs end up in your profit calculation is in the guide to the EÜR profit statement. If you also work from home, read the guide to the home office deduction too.
This guide explains the rules in general and is not tax advice.
Common questions
Does the mileage allowance count there and back?
On a business trip, yes: you claim every kilometer driven at €0.30. For the commuting allowance to your own place of business only the one-way distance counts, at €0.38.
Do I need a logbook for my private car?
If you use your private car for business trips and claim €0.30 per kilometer, you do not need a logbook for the whole car. You must be able to show the business trips, though, so you write down date, destination, purpose and kilometers of each one.
Can I deduct the Deutschlandticket or a BahnCard?
If you use it for business trips, the business share is a business expense. If you use it privately as well, you split the cost. How to estimate and document the share is best settled with your tax advisor.
What about a trip abroad?
Tickets, flights and hotels count at actual cost there too. Meals follow separate allowances per country, set by the Federal Ministry of Finance every year. Foreign VAT on a hotel invoice is not input tax you deduct in your VAT return, because § 15 Abs. 1 UStG only covers German VAT.