Berlin, Feb 17 (IANS): The German government has approved the draft of the fourth Covid-19 tax relief act that would bundle economic and social measures to cushion the impact of the pandemic.

Rewarding the "special efforts of care workers during the pandemic", employees in the healthcare sector could be awarded a tax-free bonus of up to 3,000 euros ($3,400), Xinhua news agency quoted the government as saying

Special tax rules on working from home would continue to apply, allowing taxpayers to claim five euros for each calendar day during which they work exclusively at home, up to a maximum of 600 euros, according to the government.

In order to secure the liquidity of businesses, German companies could offset their Covid-19-related losses against profits from previous years, according to the draft.

Operating losses in 2022 and 2023 could be carried back two years by up to 10 million euros.

"With today's decrees, we are reaching out to the broad middle of society," said Minister of Finance Christian Lindner in a statement on Wednesday.

"The law is a good contribution to leading our country out of the crisis."