Deducting Internet Costs as a Freelancer in Germany 2026
Diana
Updated on:
Fiber for €50 a month, plus mobile data, plus a VPN — internet is the second-biggest fixed cost for most self-employed people in Germany after rent. The good news: you can deduct the business share as an operating expense and, if you charge VAT, recover the input VAT every month. Here's how much you can realistically claim, how to document the share, and where freelancers leave money on the table.
Can I deduct my internet at all?
Yes — if you use the connection for your self-employed work, the running cost is a Betriebsausgabe (operating expense) under § 4 (4) of the German Income Tax Act. This applies whether you are a Freiberufler, a Gewerbetreibender, an Einzelunternehmer, or the managing director of a UG/GmbH doing some work from home. What matters is what you use the internet for: client video calls, cloud bookkeeping, research, email, online banking, software updates — all of that counts as business use.
Employees can also deduct internet costs as Werbungskosten, but the rules are different (lump sums, possibly an employer confirmation). This article focuses on the self-employed, where the leverage is bigger and the process is simpler.
Internet, phone, software — every fixed cost in one place
Norman pulls your Telekom, Vodafone, or 1&1 invoice straight from your bank account, files it as „Internet/Telecommunications", and pushes the input VAT into your next UStVA. No manual booking, no missed receipts.
How much can you deduct?
Unlike a laptop or phone, you don't depreciate a one-off cost — internet is an ongoing operating expense you book each month, in full or pro rata. The question is therefore not "how much?" but "what share is business use?".
Pure business use (separate business connection)
If you have a dedicated connection just for the office — a second fiber line in your coworking space, or a business-only mobile contract — you can claim 100 % of the cost. The same goes for an internet line in the registered offices of a GmbH.
Mixed use (home office, single connection)
The default case: you work from home and share the same connection between work (calls, cloud tools, banking) and private use (streaming, family, smart home). You estimate the business share and claim only that part. Reasonable, generally accepted shares fall between 40 % and 70 %, depending on how internet-heavy your work is.
Realistic shares by profile:
Full-time home-office freelancer (developer, consultant, designer, copywriter): 60–70 %
Self-employed with on-site client work (coach, trainer, photographer): 40–50 %
Side business alongside an employed job: 20–30 %
Document the share in writing — a one-line note in your bookkeeping is enough: "DSL/fiber connection used 60 % for business: video calls, cloud bookkeeping, email, research, banking. 40 % private (streaming, family)." If a tax audit ever asks, you need a plausible reason — not a stopwatch log.
Heads up: the €20 lump sum is not for you
You'll often read about a "phone and internet flat rate" of 20 % of the bill, capped at €20 per month. That simplification is for employees claiming Werbungskosten. As a self-employed person, you estimate the actual business share — and you're allowed to claim much higher percentages if they reflect reality. Anchoring to the €20 cap is exactly where freelancers lose money over the years.
Recovering input VAT (Vorsteuer)
If you charge VAT (i.e. you are not registered as a Kleinunternehmer under § 19 UStG), you also reclaim the VAT shown on the bill as input VAT. On a €50 gross monthly bill, that's €7.98 of VAT — at a 60 % business share, you recover €4.79 every month.
Conditions: you need a proper invoice with VAT shown separately. Telekom, Vodafone, 1&1 and the other big providers all give you a downloadable monthly PDF in your customer portal. Make sure the name and address on the invoice match yours or your business — otherwise the tax office can deny the deduction.
You claim the input VAT in the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (advance VAT return) for the month you received the invoice — not in the annual return. If you'd rather not handle the UStVA by hand, tools like Norman, Lexoffice, or Sevdesk calculate the VAT and submit straight to Elster.
Home office: connection vs. dedicated work room
Where you book the internet costs depends on how your home setup is recognized.
1. You have a recognized home office room (häusliches Arbeitszimmer)
If the tax office accepts a dedicated home office (a separate, mostly business-used room that's the center of your work), you book the business share of internet as part of running costs — separately from rent, electricity, and cleaning. Don't allocate by square meter for internet; use the actual usage share, not the floor area.
2. You use the Homeoffice-Pauschale (flat rate)
Since 2023 you can permanently claim a home office flat rate of €6 per day, capped at €1,260 a year (210 days). Important: this flat rate does not cover internet. You can claim the flat rate for the room and also deduct the proportional internet cost as an operating expense. Most freelancers miss this.
3. You work from the kitchen table
Even without a recognized home office and without the flat rate, you can still deduct the business share of internet as an operating expense. The only requirement is that you actually use the internet for your business. The two topics — room costs and telecom costs — are treated separately.
What counts as "internet costs"?
The same logic (business share) applies to more than just your DSL or fiber base fee. Deductible items include:
Monthly base fee for the internet line (DSL, fiber, cable, LTE/5G home)
Mobile data plans or tethering packages used for work
One-off activation or connection fees
Router rental or one-off router purchase (over €800 net: depreciate)
VPN services (NordVPN, Mullvad, ProtonVPN), cloud storage, mesh Wi-Fi systems
Roaming data abroad if the trip is business-related
Mobile contracts and smartphones are a separate topic — see deducting your phone as a freelancer. Hardware like laptops or monitors doesn't go under "internet" either — see deducting your laptop.
Worked example
You're a freelance consultant, work mostly from home, and pay €49.99 gross per month for fiber. Estimated business share: 60 %. You charge VAT (not a Kleinunternehmer).
Annual gross cost: €49.99 × 12 = €599.88
VAT inside (19 %): €599.88 ÷ 1.19 × 0.19 = €95.77
Net cost: €504.11
Business share 60 %: €302.47 operating expense
Input VAT recovered (60 %): €57.46 (spread across 12 UStVA filings)
Income tax saved at 35 % marginal rate: €302.47 × 35 % = €105.86
Total annual relief: €105.86 + €57.46 = €163.32
So on roughly €600 of yearly internet spend, the tax office gives you back over a quarter — more if your share or marginal rate is higher.
Receipts and bookkeeping
Keep every monthly invoice from your provider — the PDF from the customer portal plus the bank statement showing the debit. The retention period is ten years under § 147 AO. For the full picture of which receipts you need to keep, see the receipts guide.
On your tax return, the amount goes into the EÜR (Anlage EÜR), typically line 47 "Telefon- und Internetkosten" or under "other unrestricted operating expenses". Bookkeeping software fills this in automatically once your internet bills are categorized correctly.
Common mistakes
Too conservative a share: many freelancers claim 20 % or 30 % because they're anchored to the employee flat rate — you can usually claim 60–70 %.
No documentation: without a brief justification, the share is easy to challenge. Two lines in your bookkeeping are enough.
VAT in the annual return: input VAT belongs in the monthly or quarterly UStVA, not in the annual VAT return.
Double-counting with the home office flat rate: the €6/day flat rate does not cover internet. Both go side by side.
Prepaid contract without a proper invoice: no invoice with separately listed VAT means no input VAT deduction.
Bottom line
Internet is one of the simplest and most under-claimed operating expenses for the self-employed in Germany. If you work from home, a 50–70 % business share is usually realistic and accepted, as long as you can briefly justify it. Charging VAT? You also recover roughly €8 per month from a standard plan. Anchoring to a 20 % share, just because that's the employee flat rate, costs you several hundred euros over the years — use the freelancer leverage you have.