What are the tax consequences of a divorce?

As a rule, the requirements for a spouse's assessment are no longer met in the year of the divorce at the latest, because there was no longer a joint life and economic community in this calendar year. Two individual assessments must therefore be carried out for this calendar year.
The costs of the divorce proceedings, including the subsequent divorce settlements (e.g. costs of settling parental custody of a joint child, costs of deciding on maintenance obligations towards children and the spouse/partner) cannot be deducted as extraordinary expenses.
Maintenance payments to the divorced spouse/partner can be deducted as special expenses on application up to a maximum amount of € 13,805. The maximum amount is increased by the health and long-term care insurance contributions paid for the basic insurance of the divorced or permanently separated spouse/partner. However, the recipient must agree to the application (Annex U) and pay tax on the maintenance payments as other income.
If the maintenance payments to the divorced spouse/partner are not claimed as special expenses, they can be deducted as extraordinary expenses up to a maximum of the basic tax-free allowance applicable in the respective year (2023: €10,908; 2024: €11,784). The prerequisite is that the dependent person has no or only a small amount of assets. Income and earnings of the dependent person in excess of €624 are offset against the maximum amount

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