Hello Folks,

I got a german driving license recently and my company has agreed to pay 50% of the charges incurred in getting the license. They agreed to this because its a very important qualification for progressing in my career (ofcourse not as a taxi driver) and as we need to often go our for testing.
But they informed me that they have to tax this amount as its part of the benefits we get from our company.
In this case is it possible to declare the remaining 50% money in the tax submission beginning of next year.

In the decision from 26.03.2003 the highest tax court, called Bundesfinanzhof (BFH), has decided, that the payment for a driving license for a policeman learning on the job is tax free, when this driving license is necessary for the job.

Important for the question if such benefit is taxable or not is, if the driving license is mainly in the interest of the company or not. We call this the predominant interest of the employer. When this predominant interest of the employer exist, then the employer can take over the costs for such benefits.

In your case it seems a little bit different cause your employer paid only the half of the costs. This shows somehow, that his interests seem not to be that predominant. But if there are any doubts left I would recommend to claim these costs in your tax declaration next time. Don't expect too much...