Freelancers who work at home due to the pandemic will not be able to deduct expenses such as electricity or Internet

If, due to the pandemic and the consequent mobility restrictions, a self-employed worker is forced to work from home, the electricity or internet expenses that he accumulates due to this situation cannot be deducted. This has been made clear by the General Directorate of Taxes to a worker who recently submitted a query to this body, and who has received a negative response. Faced with this announcement, the Association of Autonomous Workers (ATA) has demanded, by means of a statement, an “urgent rectification” after qualifying the resolution as “incompressible” and “discriminatory”.

Tributos received a query from a worker who requested the deduction of the expenses of supplies (Internet or electricity, among others) of her private home when she had to carry out a job in her home that she generally carried out in her premises, which she no longer He goes daily due to the confinement derived from the pandemic. The answer was overwhelming: there is no place. The resolution, published on November 11, 2020, explains that the deduction of housing supplies can only be applied “when the taxpayer has a part of the address dedicated to the activity”, since that deductible fee is determined by the percentage of square meters of the surface for professional use. Considering the particular case that was referred to him, he considers that the self-employed worker “does not have a part specifically dedicated to her activity”, and that it is an “occasional and exceptional” situation.

Discriminatory character

However, this interpretation has not satisfied ATA, which has countered by appealing to various laws. According to the organization, through “the Personal Income Tax Law (IRPF) and the partial modification of the laws on Corporation, Non-Resident Income and Equity taxes, the self-employed can be deducted 30% of the expenses of the house when it is used as a work space ”. “The self-employed who have been forced to close by administrative order, which has seen their capacity reduced, who must follow health recommendations, it is not understood that expenses cannot be deducted as a company can do with respect to those that occur in the homes of salaried workers when they must telework. It is something incomprehensible and discriminatory, and I expect an urgent rectification ”, defends Lorenzo Amor, president of ATA, in a statement released by the association.

The group of self-employed workers – of just over three million people – has been one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis derived from the coronavirus, and they are the least who have been able to maintain their activity outside the usual work space. According to official data on telework published by the European Union, in Spain only one in five self-employed workers currently carries out their activity from their home. A figure that is far from the average for the euro area, which stands at one in four.