school fee costs as special expenses

Claiming school fee costs as special expenses

Claim up to 5,000 euros!

When can I deduct school fees?

Claim up to 5,000 euros!

If your child attends a private or mostly privately funded school, you may be able to deduct part of your expenses from the tax. The special deduction for school fees is 30 percent of the costs, but not more than 5,000 euros per child.

The amount is only granted once for each child and per parent pair. For unmarried parents, each parent is entitled to half the amount. However, parents can request a different breakdown.

In order to claim the school fees as special expenses, you must be entitled to child benefit or child allowance for the child. In principle, beneficiaries are institutions that prepare for a recognized school, year or vocational qualification. (§ 10 (1) no. 9 EStG).

You can only claim school fees as special expenses if you are fully taxable in Germany . This also applies if you live abroad and are treated in Germany on application as unlimited taxable. If you are subject to limited tax liability in Germany, a special deduction is not possible.

Which costs are recognized?

Normal school supplies, such as books, notebooks, pens or other school supplies for your child, such as sportswear, can not be stated in an income tax return. By the way, this applies to all school types (private and state).

You can not deduct expenses for costs of accommodation, care and food  for your child. The individual private lessons or tutoring lessons  can not be claimed as special expenses . The same applies to travel expenses, extracurricular afternoon activities or holiday courses.

What do I pay for school fees ?, you may ask yourself now. The answer: For the lesson. This refers to the material and personnel costs for the teaching, including the salaries of the teachers or the costs of maintaining the school building.

In the invoice of the school, the subsidized school fees should be listed separately from the other costs.

Important: keep proof of payment

If the child visits a private school, the invoices from the institution listing the costs of school fees are sufficient. However, the proof of payment is also important for the tax office.

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