Germany: Court overturns abolition of commuter tax allowance

German commuters will gain, at least in the short term, from a December 2008 Federal Constitutional Court ruling, which has overturned a government decision to abolish tax allowances for employees’ journeys to and from work.

Until 2007, German employees were able to claim the cost of commuting from their homes to their workplaces as a legitimate work-related expense that they could deduct from their income tax bill.