Many companies subsidize a job ticket for public transport for their employees. The ticket is one of the most popular employee benefits and is also tax and contribution-free if it is granted in addition to the salary.
Employers must ensure that they record this benefit in kind in the payroll account and certify it in the wage tax statement. They are also required to keep the receipts for the tickets.
The same applies to the Deutschlandticket. Employers can either give this ticket to their employees as a job ticket at a discount or pay for it in full. If employees buy the Deutschlandticket themselves each month, the company can reimburse them for the costs in full or in part, free of tax and contributions.
An overview of what employers should consider when it comes to payroll accounting and the Deutschlandticket.
One of the most popular benefits for employees is the public transport allowance or job ticket. Since May 2023, employers have also been able to offer the Deutschlandticket as a job ticket. More than half of all large German companies already do this. Employers have two options for offering the Deutschlandticket as a job ticket:
The same conditions apply to monthly payroll accounting for the Deutschlandticket as for subsidies for regular public transport tickets and job tickets. This means that the employee buys the Deutschlandticket in advance. The employer can then reimburse it in full or in part free of tax and contributions. Alternatively, employers can issue their employees with a mobility budget with which they can purchase the ticket. This budget is settled via the non-cash benefit.
Three conditions must be met:
Note: The subsidy may not exceed the amount of the ticket price and therefore may not exceed 49 euros per month. As a result of the Deutschlandticket price increase, the subsidy may therefore amount to a maximum of 58 euros. It is therefore essential to enter the correct amount in your pay slip.
Due to the Deutschlandticket price increase from January 2025, the price of the ticket will exceed the 50 euro tax-free limit for benefits in kind. This will have an impact on companies that provide the Germany Job Ticket to their employees as a non-cash benefit, as it would then no longer be tax-free.
Employers now have two options as to how they can still offer the Deutschland-Jobticket to their employees tax-free.
On the one hand, companies can make use of Section 3 No. 15 EStG. This stipulates that tickets for public transport may be offered tax-free by the employer if they are designated as job tickets. This means that companies can continue to offer the Deutschlandticket free of tax and social security contributions without using the benefit in kind.
However, companies also have the option of granting the Germany Job Ticket as a benefit in kind. If they subsidize the 58 euro Germany ticket on a pro rata basis and remain below the 50 euro exemption limit. In this case, the employees pay for the additional costs of the ticket.
Technically, this option can be implemented using NAVIT's new split-pay function, for example.
In addition to the employer, employees are also obliged to keep the purchased tickets or receipts as proof of purchase.
Employees must also claim the public transport subsidy or the costs for the Deutschlandticket in their tax return under “income-related expenses”. This is because the receipt or subsidy reduces the commuting allowance accordingly. However, this reduction has no influence on how often the employee uses the ticket. As the Deutschlandticket is a monthly pass, employees can also use it privately without any restrictions.
The following applies to employees who pay for the Deutschlandticket out of their own pocket and want to deduct the costs from their taxes:
Employees can deduct the cost of the Deutschlandticket from their taxes if they use the ticket for business travel and it is cheaper than buying regular tickets. This means that if the Germany Ticket amortizes the regular travel costs to work, employees can also use the ticket for private travel and still enter the costs as income-related expenses in their tax return.
