Travel costs to the rented apartment: When does the commuting allowance apply?

Income-related expenses when renting: how to do it right

Anyone who rents out an apartment often has to look after the property personally. This includes repairs, cleaning or discussions with tenants. But what about travel expenses? What costs can you claim for tax purposes and where does the tax office set limits?

As a landlord, you can generally deduct travel costs to the property as income-related expenses. If you use your private car for this, you can claim 30 cents per kilometer driven. This means: there and back.

Careful documentation is important to ensure that the tax office plays along. A list with the date, reason and destination of the trip, ideally supplemented by parking tickets or fuel receipts, can help to prove your expenses.

Attention for regular activities: First place of work possible

In individual cases, however, the rented home can be classified as a so-called first place of work. The consequence: Instead of the travel costs for the outward and return journey, you can only deduct 30 cents per kilometer. So only the one-way trip.

This is exactly what the Münster Tax Court ruled on May 15, 2025 (case no. 12 K 1916/21 F). The dispute concerned a vacation home where the owners carried out a lot of manual work themselves. Because they spent more than a third of their regular working hours on site, the property was deemed to be their first place of work. The consequence: only a distance allowance instead of the full mileage allowance.

• To the full judgment of the Münster tax court

What you should consider now

For you, this means that if you regularly work on your rental property yourself, for example in a vacation home or a small apartment building, you should check whether you reach the threshold of one third of your working hours. If this is the case, it may affect your tax deductibility of travel expenses.

If in doubt, proof of external services (property management, tradesmen) will help to put your own activities into perspective.

Our tip: Be confident when dealing with the tax office

You should keep your documentation clean, especially for recurring trips and extensive work. This will give you good arguments in case the tax office asks or wants to reduce something.

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