BFH: self-employed double household only at the activity's centre

A self-employed taxpayer keeps a double household (doppelte Haushaltsführung) only where he maintains his own household away from the place where he performs his activity predominantly (schwerpunktmäßig) and also lives at that place of work.Bundesfinanzhof The entire business activity of a self-employed person has only one centreBundesfinanzhof — and that centre lies at any rate at the place of his only travel-law BetriebsstätteBundesfinanzhof. That is the rule the VIII. Senat laid down on 19 May 2026Bundesfinanzhof (VIII R 15/24)Bundesfinanzhof for an IT consultant working four days a week at a client's site.

The reasoning starts from the employee definition, applied correspondingly. For an employee, a double household requires a household away from the first place of work (erste Tätigkeitsstätte) plus residence at that place (§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 5 Satz 2 EStG). A self-employed person has no erste TätigkeitsstätteBundesfinanzhof: assignment by an employer is impossible where there is no employer giving instructions, and §§ 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 and 6a EStG do not cross-refer to the first-place-of-work definition in § 9 Abs. 4 EStG. The substitute anchor is the place where the self-employed person performs his activity predominantlyBundesfinanzhof — since an employee can have at most one first place of work per employment, a self-employed person can accordingly keep a double household only at the single centre of his whole activityBundesfinanzhof. The court left open how that centre is determined in general; where the only Betriebsstätte under § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 Satz 1 EStG sits, the centre sits tooBundesfinanzhof.

Family home journeys (Familienheimfahrten) follow the same substitution: they are the trips between the place where the self-employed person predominantly works and also lives, and the place of his own householdBundesfinanzhof — the corresponding application of the employee definition in § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 5 Satz 5 EStG. Their cost is capped the same way as for employeesBundesfinanzhof: for a car, only the Entfernungspauschale is deductibleBundesfinanzhof and any excess over it, computed against 0.002 percent of the domestic list price per kilometreBundesfinanzhof, is added back to profitBundesfinanzhof (§ 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 6 Satz 3 EStG) — including for a car that is more than 50 percent business-used but only leased, not ownedBundesfinanzhof. Whoever keeps a proper logbook instead deducts the actual attributable costs. Meal allowances within a business-motivated double household are deductible only for the first three months after it is establishedBundesfinanzhof.

Applied to the consultant, the Finanzgericht Rheinland-Pfalz had been right in resultBundesfinanzhof. He had his only Betriebsstätte at the client's site in HBundesfinanzhof — the provision-specific Betriebsstätte test (a fixed, permanent facility visited continuously and repeatedly to perform the professional activity, determining its fixed local centre) survives the 2013 travel-expense reform unchanged, the Senat joining the III. Senat's 5 February 2026 judgment (III R 18/25). With his household in K and his second residence in HBundesfinanzhof, his H–K trips were family home journeysBundesfinanzhof deductible only at the Entfernungspauschale of 0.30 euros per kilometre for one weekly tripBundesfinanzhof, and his meal allowances only for March to May 2016Bundesfinanzhof. His revision was rejected as unfoundedBundesfinanzhof. Self-employed consultants on long-term single-client assignments with a second residence should test where their only Betriebsstätte — and hence their activity's centre — liesBundesfinanzhof, and cap home journeys and meal allowances accordinglyBundesfinanzhofBundesfinanzhof.

Legal basis: EStG § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 5, 6 und 6a, with Nr. 6a incorporating § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 5 and Nr. 5 Satz 2 incorporating § 9 Abs. 4a by reference; BFH judgment of 19 May 2026, VIII R 15/24.