If a secondary occupation is continued after retirement, pensioners can continue to claim tax deductions for professional costs under certain conditions.
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–Be careful with the taxation of additional income: A pensioner gives a boy piano lessons.
Foto: Alistair Berg (Getty Images)
After his retirement, Paul Müller (name changed) wanted to declare his previous sideline as main income in his tax return. Because that way he could have claimed the actual costs for commuting and other things more than deductions. But the employee of the responsible local tax authority was cross. Paul Müller received the information that the sideline would be a sideline for tax purposes even after retirement. Thus, a maximum of a flat rate of 20 percent of the income is permitted as a tax deduction.
Müller thinks that his income could also be interpreted as main occupation. Because the pensioner does not have any other activity. He works with a small quota of 10 to 20 percent as an employed psychotherapist. The work does not bring a high salary, but it is associated with comparatively high travel expenses, as Müller covers a longer distance by car for short assignments of sometimes one and a half hours. These can be emergencies when a patient is at risk of suicide. In addition, there are expenses for telephone calls, meals away, specialist literature and more.
