Homeoffice → telework: what actually changes?

Before: complete lit. a — German original

RIS, EStG § 26 as of 31 December 2024, document NOR40265473. This selected §-26 version runs from 10 October through 31 December 2024; that interval is not the allowance's introduction date.

Das Homeoffice-Pauschale beträgt bis zu drei Euro pro Tag, an dem der Arbeitnehmer seine berufliche Tätigkeit auf Grund einer mit dem Arbeitgeber getroffenen Vereinbarung ausschließlich in der Wohnung ausübt (Homeoffice-Tag); es steht für höchstens 100 Tage im Kalenderjahr zu.

After: complete replacement lit. a — German original

Art. 8 Z 3, official promulgation of 19 July 2024, PDF page 4. Not a current consolidated version.

Das Telearbeitspauschale beträgt bis zu drei Euro pro ausschließlichem Telearbeitstag im Sinne des § 2h des Arbeitsvertragsrechts-Anpassungsgesetzes (AVRAG), BGBl. I 459/1993, und steht für höchstens 100 Tage im Kalenderjahr zu, soweit die Telearbeitstage samt ausbezahltem Pauschale im Lohnzettel bzw. in der Lohnbescheinigung ausgewiesen sind. Dies gilt für sämtliche Dienstverhältnisse gemäß § 47 Abs. 2, sofern die Kriterien für Telearbeit gemäß § 2h AVRAG vorliegen.

Both quotations reproduce the entire lit. a without its list label; layout whitespace is normalized. The categories and English machine values below are editorial normalizations.

A text change is not automatically a numerical change

Seven comparison fields, with evidence under /fields in the JSON. Each shows before → after:

No negative claim about prior law: the two added statements are not express in the compared old text. This means neither required: false, “no former reporting obligation”, nor “certain employees were previously excluded”. Other provisions are not compared here.

Context for the changed reference — § 2h Abs. 1–2 only

AVRAG § 2h as of 31 December 2024 describes regular work in the dwelling and a written agreement for evidentiary purposes. Art. 1 Z 1 of the promulgation also names another location not belonging to the company and an agreement including locations. The German original excerpts of Abs. 1–2 are in the JSON at /texts/avrag_before_context and /texts/avrag_after_context. This does not evaluate every eligibility requirement or ASVG location category.

Historical application boundary: the payroll period's end

Art. 8 Z 6, EStG § 124b Z 453, PDF page 4 — complete application provision, German original:

453. § 16 Abs. 1 Z 7 und 7a, § 26 Z 9 und § 41 Abs. 1 Z 13 in der Fassung des Bundesgesetzes BGBl. I Nr. 110/2024 treten mit 1. Jänner 2025 in Kraft und sind erstmalig anzuwenden, wenn
– die Einkommensteuer veranlagt wird, bei der Veranlagung für das Kalenderjahr 2025,
– die Einkommensteuer (Lohnsteuer) durch Abzug eingehoben oder durch Veranlagung festgesetzt wird, für Lohnzahlungszeiträume, die nach dem 31. Dezember 2024 enden.

• Effective date for the named provisions: 2025-01-01.
• First assessment: calendar year 2025.
• Payroll periods: ending after 2024-12-31, not on that day. End 2024-12-31 → before; end 2025-01-01 → after.

For a period spanning New Year, the test still uses only its end. Payment date, request timestamp and publication date are not substitutes. before/after are only sides of this historical boundary, not certification of law for all earlier or later periods.

Compare and regression-test offline in three steps

1. Download the Python verifier and JSON fixture; keep both filenames in the same folder.
2. Python 3.9+ and its standard library are sufficient. No installation, network access, RIS parsing, API key or payment.
3. Run in the download folder:

python3 verify_telework_2025.py --diff
python3 verify_telework_2025.py --payroll-period-end 2024-12-31
python3 verify_telework_2025.py --payroll-period-end 2025-01-01 --assessment-year 2025

Every invocation checks both boundary cases. Expected: 31 December → crosses_amendment_boundary: false; 1 January → true. Exit 0 means the unchanged fixture passed; exit 2 means invalid input or changed fixture. Output is pure JSON unless --diff appends a German unified diff.

The fixture has identical content to the free comparison JSON. Optional: --fixture another-path.json. The verifier checks structure, unchanged caps, evidence pointers and an embedded canonical fixture SHA-256 digest. It is intentionally not a generic validator for arbitrary legislative changes. Full offline instructions (DE/EN).

Evidence chain and limitations

Each normalized field uses evidence.text_pointer to identify the German original text; that text uses source_pointer to identify the official URL, locator, retrieval time and archived original's SHA-256. Filenames and line ranges document the extracts used at review; they are not download URLs. The offline package includes quoted text, not full RIS source files. The digest detects drift from this fixture, but does not independently authenticate RIS or check later amendments.

Only a historical comparison of lit. a and its application boundary. Not current-law advice, individual eligibility, tax calculation, a complete §-26 comparison or whole-Act comparison. Lit. b was separately changed by Art. 8 Z 4 and is excluded. No ASVG location categories. Official sources remain authoritative; this is not legal advice.

This comparison is entirely free and not included in the unchanged 0.05 USDC paid endpoint. That deliverable still contains four operations for one record. Existing event JSON · Deutsche Primärfassung dieses Vergleichs.