How can I deduct maintenance payments to a person in need?
Maintenance payments to dependants can be claimed as extraordinary expenses for tax purposes, without any deductible being applied. It is important to note that the tax office will only recognise these payments if they are proportionate to your net income. After deducting the maintenance payments, your income must be sufficient to support yourself, your partner, and your children. This limit is known as the sacrifice limit.
No sacrifice limit for maintenance payments to ex-partners
The sacrifice limit does not apply to maintenance payments to your ex-partner, permanently separated partner, or a dependant with whom you live in a shared household.
Calculation of the sacrifice limit
The sacrifice limit is calculated based on your net income, which includes wages, child benefit, and unemployment benefit, minus taxes, social security contributions, and work-related expenses. For every full 500 Euro of net income, the sacrifice limit is 1 percent. For married couples, the joint income is considered. However, a maximum of 50 percent of the net income is recognised. The percentage is reduced by 5 percent per child for whom you receive child benefit, and by 5 percent for the spouse, but by no more than 25 percent.
Example of calculating the sacrifice limit
You are married, have two children, and support your parents with 9.000 Euro per year. Your net income is 24.000 Euro per year.
- Net income: 24.000 Euro
- 1 percent per 500 Euro = 48 percent
- Deduction for spouse: -5 percent
- Deduction for two children: -10 percent
- Remaining sacrifice limit: 33 percent
Your sacrifice limit is therefore 33 percent of 24.000 Euro, i.e. 7.920 Euro. Of the 9.000 Euro maintenance payments, 7.920 Euro are recognised.
Maximum maintenance amount
In 2025, the maximum maintenance amount is 12.096 Euro. This amount can be increased if you also pay health and nursing care insurance contributions for the maintenance recipient.
How can I deduct maintenance payments to a person in need?
Who is considered a dependant for tax purposes – and who is not?
Many taxpayers provide financial support to relatives, such as parents, grandparents, or adult children. What often surprises people is that not every family relationship automatically allows for maintenance payments to be considered for tax purposes.
Basic principles – briefly explained
Maintenance payments can only be considered in the tax return if there is a maintenance obligation (legal or, in exceptional cases, moral), the supported person is in need, and – in the case of children – there is no entitlement to child benefit or child allowance. The legal basis is § 33a Income Tax Act (EStG).
Overview: Maintenance entitlement by family relationship
The following table shows – corresponding to the selection screen – at a glance which persons are considered maintenance-entitled for tax purposes and for which family relationships a deduction is excluded.
| Family relationship |
Maintenance-entitled for tax purposes? |
| Father |
Yes |
| Mother |
Yes |
| Grandfather |
Yes |
| Grandmother |
Yes |
| Great-grandfather |
Yes |
| Great-grandmother |
Yes |
| Daughter* |
Yes* |
| Son* |
Yes* |
| Granddaughter |
Yes* |
| Grandson |
Yes* |
| Spouse/partner (living abroad) |
Yes |
| Spouse/partner (separated) |
Yes |
| Spouse/partner (divorced) |
Yes |
| Mother of the non-marital child |
Yes |
| Father of the non-marital child |
Yes |
| Stepmother |
Restricted |
| Stepfather |
Restricted |
| Stepdaughter |
Restricted |
| Stepson |
Restricted |
| Mother-in-law |
Restricted |
| Father-in-law |
Restricted |
| Daughter-in-law |
No |
| Son-in-law |
No |
| Sister |
No |
| Brother |
No |
| Female cousin |
No |
| Male cousin |
No |
| Aunt |
No |
| Uncle |
No |
| Niece |
No |
| Nephew |
No |
| Sister-in-law |
No |
| Brother-in-law |
No |
| Partner in a marriage-like relationship |
No |
| Partner in a civil partnership-like relationship |
No |
| Fiancée |
No |
| Fiancé |
No |
| Other person (not maintenance-entitled) |
No |
| * For these persons, maintenance payments are only tax-deductible if there is no entitlement to child benefit or child allowance (e.g. after completing education). |
Common misunderstandings
- “I pay regularly – it must be deductible?”
No. What matters is not the payment itself, but whether there is a tax-relevant maintenance obligation.
- “My sister is destitute – can I claim her?”
No. Siblings are not considered maintenance-entitled for tax purposes.
- “My adult child is still studying.”
As long as child benefit or child allowance is taken into account, an additional maintenance deduction is generally excluded.
Conclusion
Tax benefits mainly apply to maintenance payments to parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, to children without child benefit entitlement, and to separated or divorced spouses/partners. For step and in-law relatives, it often depends on the individual case. Maintenance payments to siblings, partners, or distant relatives are not tax-deductible.
Who is considered a dependant for tax purposes – and who is not?
When must all persons be specified?
The tax office assumes that all maintenance payments are distributed equally among all household members.
The maintenance payments you have made are therefore divided equally among all supported persons living in the household, even if they are not entitled to maintenance.
Example
Your father lives in a household with your sister. You pay your father 6,000 Euro and your sister nothing.
Your expenses are distributed equally between both people, i.e. since your sister is not entitled to maintenance, you can only claim the 3,000 Euro allocated to your father for tax purposes.
When must all persons be specified?
