How are childcare costs to be taken into account for tax purposes?

Under certain conditions, you can claim childcare costs as special expenses for tax purposes up to a maximum amount.

Prerequisites

  • The child lives in your home or is temporarily accommodated away from home with your consent, e.g. in a boarding school. In the case of parents who do not live together, it generally depends on whether the child is registered with you or the other parent.
  • The child is not older than 13 years of age or, if it is unable to support itself due to a physical, mental or psychological disability, not older than 24 years of age.
  • It is cared for
    • by a childminder, matron or all-day care facility, nanny or nursery nurse or educator,
    • by a kindergarten, a day care center, a day nursery, a crèche or in a children's home,
    • from a domestic help employed by you or
    • for the completion of homework.
  • You incur expenses through
    • Benefits in kind, especially for the accommodation and meals of the caregiver in the household, or
    • payment. This also applies to reimbursements to the caregiver, e.g. their travel costs, if the services are listed on the invoice or in the contract

Amount:

80% of expenses, up to a maximum of €4,800 per child and year (until 2024: 2/3 of expenses, up to a maximum of €4,000 per child and year).

Type:

The expenses to be recognized reduce your income in your income tax assessment.

If the requirements are only met for part of the calendar year, only 80% (or 2/3) of the costs incurred in this part of the calendar year are eligible, up to a maximum of EUR 4,800 (or EUR 4,000).

Example:

The child turns 14 in July of the calendar year. In this case, the responsible authority will only recognize the costs incurred from January to July.

If you as parents do not share a household, the parent whose household the child belongs to is entitled to the maximum amount. The other parent is not entitled to childcare costs because the child does not belong to their household.

If the child belongs to the household of both parents, the maximum amount is divided in half, i.e. each parent is entitled to a maximum amount of EUR 2,400 (or EUR 2,000), unless they both apply for a different division of the maximum amount.

Note

You cannot claim expenses for

  • Tuition such as school fees, private tutoring or foreign language lessons,
  • the teaching of special skills such as computer courses or music lessons,
  • sports and other leisure activities such as membership of sports clubs, tennis or riding lessons,
  • meals or transportation costs for the child.

School fees can also be claimed for tax purposes under other conditions within the scope of a separate maximum amount.