Last reviewed: 18 August 2026. German tax rules change every year, so every figure here is dated to the year it applies to, and linked to an official source at the bottom.
The summary in one breath: if your employer gives you a Deutschlandticket, it can be 100% tax-free. If they hand you a BahnCard 100 for business travel, the business part is free but private rides are taxable. And on your 2026 tax return, commuting is worth 38 cents per kilometre, not the 30 cents that most expat videos still quote. The gap between “free” and “taxable” is a few hundred euros a year, so it pays to know which is which.
The ticket itself: 63 EUR per month in 2026
The Deutschlandticket costs 63 EUR per month in 2026. I checked the official pages instead of trusting a video: bahn.de lists “63 Euro pro Monat” with a “Stand: August 2026” note, and deutschlandticket.de says the same. For context: it launched at 49 EUR in 2023, went to 58 EUR in 2025, and is 63 EUR now, a number that has moved before, so check it when you read this.
What you get: unlimited local public transport nationwide, buses, trams, U-bahn, S-bahn and regional trains, but not ICE/IC long-distance. It is a monthly, cancellable subscription held in an app or on a chip card. For a normal German office commute it is usually cheaper than a city’s own monthly pass, and it makes impromptu weekend trips anywhere in the country effectively free.
Why an employer-paid ticket is tax-free gold
The law gives commuting benefits a special seat at the table. Under § 3 Nr. 15 EStG (current text), employer payments for your public-transport commuting, and free or discounted tickets you get through your job, are tax-free for you when granted on top of your agreed salary (“zusätzlich zum ohnehin geschuldeten Arbeitslohn”). Two things matter:
- “On top of salary” is the whole game. Your employer adds the ticket without shaving your gross pay. Then the 63 EUR never touches your taxable income, you pocket the equivalent of roughly 90 EUR of gross pay at a typical 30% tax-and-social-security bite.
- There is no euro cap in the current law. Early versions of the rule capped this at 1,080 EUR per year; the version in force in 2026 does not. Also note: free-ticket days reduce your commuting deduction on the tax return later, the state will not pay twice.
Many companies instead offer salary conversion (Gehaltsumwandlung): you give up 63 EUR of gross, they buy the ticket. Then the ticket is not tax-free under § 3 Nr. 15, but employers can flat-tax it at 25% under § 40 Abs. 2 EStG, the law explicitly allows this even though it was not granted on top of salary. You still end up with a ticket that costs far less than paying 63 EUR out of net pay, just not as little as the tax-free version. So: ask for the on-top version first, accept the converted one second.
Jobticket vs Deutschlandticket: same rails, different wiring
A Jobticket is the older, regional version: your employer signs a contract with the local transport association (Verkehrsverbund) and every employee can buy a discounted season ticket for that region. The Deutschlandticket-Jobticket is the hybrid: the employer joins the Deutschlandticket scheme, typically covering part of the 63 EUR while you pay the reduced remainder. The exact split is a commercial detail set by each company, so I am deliberately not quoting a number here, ask HR.
The tax pieces:
- The discount element, the gap between the normal ticket price and what the company’s contract gets you, is tax-free in standard arrangements under § 3 Nr. 15, even when your salary is converted.
- The employer’s share on top of salary is tax-free, as above.
- The employer’s share funded by salary conversion gets the 25% flat tax under § 40 Abs. 2 EStG.
Which to ask for? The Deutschlandticket version, almost always: it costs about the same as a regional job ticket but works across the whole country, gold for weekend travel. A regional-only Jobticket only wins if your employer’s deal makes it dramatically cheaper or your world is genuinely one city.
The BahnCard 100: business travel without the receipt pile
In roles with real travel, sales territories, project sites, consulting, a BahnCard 100 (all-you-can-ride on the entire German rail network, ICE included) is the legendary perk. Privately it costs a few thousand euros a year; on the company’s account it simply vanishes from your life and you board trains.
The tax logic is clean, with one trap:
- Business trips are not a benefit. A BahnCard used for work travel is a work tool, like a laptop. The employer’s money moving for business reasons is not your income; nothing lands on your payslip.
- Private rides are a benefit. The moment you use that card for a weekend in Munich, the value of those rides is a geldwerter Vorteil (benefit in kind) and it is taxable wage. Companies either block private use, let you use it and report the value on your payslip, or make you log private trips.
- The commute slice can be free. Using the card to get to the office is public-transport commuting, exactly what § 3 Nr. 15 exempts, on top of salary, nothing shaved off gross.
Practical test before you board that first private ICE: ask HR how private use is treated, logged, taxed, or not allowed, and check your first payslip for a line called “geldwerter Vorteil”.
Commuting cash, and the 30-cent myth
If you commute on your own dime and file a German tax return, you deduct commuting costs as the distance allowance (Entfernungspauschale). Under the current EStG (§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4), 2026 gives you a flat 38 cents per kilometre of your one-way distance, for every day you actually went to the office, capped at 4,500 EUR a year, unless you drive your own car, in which case the cap does not apply to you.
So why does every expat channel still say 30 cents? Two reasons, and neither makes it right for 2026 commuting:
- 30 cents is the business-trip rate. When you drive for work, client visits, conferences, employers reimburse mileage at the Bundesreisekostengesetz rates: 20 cents per km standard, 30 cents per km when the car use has “significant official interest”, which is why most companies just pay 30 cents. That refund is not your income, so it is tax-free. But it is for work trips, not the daily commute.
- 30 cents used to be the commute rate for the first 20 km, until the June 2026 reform flattened the allowance to 38 cents for every kilometre. Old videos are circulating pre-reform numbers.
One more myth while we are here: some summaries say the allowance only counts “up to 15 days a month”. That is a mix-up with the meal allowance. The official 2026 Sachbezugswerte are 11.50 EUR full day / 4.57 lunch / 2.37 breakfast, and, like commuting, there is no statutory 15-day monthly cap. Commuting has no monthly day cap, every office day counts.
Worked example: a 12-km commute, 20 office days a month = 12 km x 0.38 EUR x 20 = 91.20 EUR of deductible commuting cost monthly, about 1,094 EUR a year. That is a deduction, not a refund, it lowers your taxable income, so at a ~30% marginal rate you recover roughly 27 EUR a month. And remember the flip side: if you already have a company ticket, those days reduce this deduction. No double-dipping.
What about the company car?
If your company offers a car and fuel card instead, the math is a different planet, the 1% rule, EV discounts, “free charging” nuances. We wrote it up separately: Company Car vs Cash Allowance in Germany: The 1% Rule Explained. The short version: a company car is rarely as tax-free as a ticket, so commuters who do not love driving usually win with rail.
What to ask HR (copy-paste list)
- “Can you add the Deutschlandticket on top of my salary, not through salary conversion?”, the tax-free version, 63 EUR a month for free.
- “Do we have a Jobticket contract? What would I actually pay, and what does the company cover?”
- “If it is salary-converted, are you applying the 25% flat rate under § 40 Abs. 2 EStG?”
- “I travel often, would the company consider a BahnCard 100 for business? How is private use handled?”
- “Can payroll give me notes on my tax-free ticket days for my tax return?”
FAQ
Is the Deutschlandticket price fixed at 63 EUR?
As of August 2026, yes, verified on bahn.de and deutschlandticket.de. It has risen before (49 EUR in 2023, 58 EUR in 2025), so treat figures older than a year with suspicion.
Does a free company ticket reduce my tax refund?
It can. The tax-free ticket days reduce your commuting deduction under § 9 EStG, so you cannot claim the distance allowance for the same days. If you commute on the company ticket, your commuting deduction may drop to zero, acceptable, because the ticket itself was worth more.
I mostly work from home. Should I still take the ticket?
Only if you actually travel, office days plus weekend trips. If you go in twice a week and your employer’s regional Jobticket deal is steeply discounted, the cheaper option may win.
Disclaimer: this post is general information about German tax rules, not tax, legal or financial advice. Rules and limits change; everything here was checked against official sources on 18 August 2026, but your situation is yours. Verify with your HR/payroll team or a Steuerberater before acting on it.
Official sources (checked 18 August 2026):
- Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG), § 3 Nr. 15 (tax-free public-transport commuting benefits), § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 4 (distance allowance: flat 38 cents/km in 2026), § 40 Abs. 2 (flat-rate wage tax options): gesetze-im-internet.de/estg, text as amended by the law of 29 June 2026
- Deutschlandticket price and conditions: bahn.de, Deutschland-Ticket and deutschlandticket.de, 63 EUR/month, Stand: August 2026
- Business-trip mileage rates (20/30 cents per km): Bundesreisekostengesetz § 5
