(2023)
How are care home costs taken into account?
If you are accommodated in a care home, nursing home or in the care section of a retirement home or residential facility due to the need for care, the high costs can fortunately be deducted as extraordinary expenses.
Deductible expenses include not only the costs for medical services and care but also the costs for accommodation and meals. This is because the expenses for home accommodation are considered medical expenses.
However, the deductible costs must be reduced by
- the care allowance from statutory or private care insurance.
- the household saving if the household is dissolved. The household saving amounts to 909 Euro per month and 30.30 Euro per day in 2023.
- the reasonable burden, which depends on your marital status and income and ranges between 1 and 7%.
Note: If elderly people move into a "normal" retirement home, the home costs are unfortunately not tax-deductible. In this case, the accommodation costs are considered living expenses. However, if care is needed later, the home and care costs can be fully deducted as extraordinary expenses from that point on, with the tax office applying a reasonable burden (BMF letter dated 20.1.2003, BStBl. 2003 I p. 89).
