Steuererklärung: Cost of supporting hosted parents with very low income.

[Frantic]

It is my understanding I can deduct the cost for supporting relatives with low income.
It would be the case of my parent in law. They are non-EU citizen, they got residence permit due to the EU mobility law/directive because I am italian who moved and live in another EU Country (Germany). They stay at our place 6 month+1 day per year...or at least they try

My father in law is retired, 65 years old, around 500 euro per month of pension (getting less year after year due to the constant devaluation of his country currency).
We pay for his TKK fee but all other expenses like increase in grocery cost are "hidden" in our normal bank/card transactions.

Can anyone please point me to some links i can read/study about this ? Or which German keywords I need to use when I google for it ?

[Franklan]

https://www.finanztip.de/steuererklaeru ... d%20machen.

[PandaMunich]

During the months they live with you in Germany, you can claim the full Grundfreibetrag per person (well, if they live here 7 months, then 7/12 * Grundfreibetrag) as an expense in Anlage Unterhalt, line 25: https://www.steuern.de/fileadmin/user_u ... .de_01.pdf

Grundfreibetrag: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundfrei ... utschland)

For the months they live in their home country, it depends on the country group their country is in, please read this for details: viewtopic.php?p=3211

[murphaph]

My father in law (disabled through complete blindness in 2023) lives with us 50% of the time. He spends the other 50% of his time with his other daughter. He has no wealth whatsoever and has a very small state pension of around €600 and a really small private pension of around €80. He always admitted he had failed to make provision for hos old age and said he would have to work until he dropped but that's not what life had in store for him.

We do not make any payments to him directly however he pays no rent as he has virtually no means. He does pay a nominal amount of "Wohngeld" in the amount of €100 per month towards our real extra costs incurred in housing him (increased costs of electricity, water, heating, waste collection compared to previous years). He pays a contribution towards the cost of food (25% of our family food bills as there are four people living in the house altogether-this is a good deal for him as he eats more than my wife and son). He also receives Pflegeld (Pflegestufe 2) in the amount of around €350 a month. He keeps €150 of this himself, passing on €100 to each daughter (he pays back a bank loan with the rest of his money as he did not want to declare bankruptcy, even though he is really bankrupt). The common custom is that all of the Pflegegeld be given to those doing the caring but whatever, he's broke.

So, we are not "out of pocket" in a strict financial sense but we are clearly supporting him way beyond his means as he lives with us for nothing apart from the costs mentioned above. I am curious if we can also claim 50% of his Grundfreibetrag in our Steuererklärung (with my sister in law claiming the other half on her return). Is that really possible or have I misunderstood the above advice?

[PandaMunich]

Only for people with no income of their own do you get to claim the Grundfreibetrag (in your case, pro rata temporis, 50%).
He however has income, so his own income will lower what you can claim.
--> there will not be much left to claim.

See § 33a (1) Satz 5 EStG: https://dejure.org/gesetze/EStG/33a.html

• 5Hat die unterhaltene Person andere Einkünfte oder Bezüge, so vermindert sich die Summe der nach Satz 1 und Satz 2 ermittelten Beträge um den Betrag, um den diese Einkünfte und Bezüge den Betrag von 624 Euro im Kalenderjahr übersteigen, sowie um die von der unterhaltenen Person als Ausbildungshilfe aus öffentlichen Mitteln oder von Förderungseinrichtungen, die hierfür öffentliche Mittel erhalten, bezogenen Zuschüsse; zu den Bezügen gehören auch steuerfreie Gewinne nach den §§ 14, 16 Absatz 4, § 17 Absatz 3 und § 18 Absatz 3, die nach § 19 Absatz 2 steuerfrei bleibenden Einkünfte sowie Sonderabschreibungen und erhöhte Absetzungen, soweit sie die höchstmöglichen Absetzungen für Abnutzung nach § 7 übersteigen.

• 5If the dependent person has other income or earnings, the sum of the amounts determined in accordance with sentences 1 and 2 shall be reduced by the amount by which this income and these earnings exceed the amount of 624 euros in the calendar year, as well as by any grants received by the dependent person as educational assistance from public funds or from funding institutions that receive public funds for this purpose; Remuneration also includes tax-free profits pursuant to Sections 14, 16(4), 17(3) and 18(3), income that remains tax-free pursuant to Section 19(2), as well as special depreciation allowances and increased deductions, insofar as they exceed the maximum possible deductions for wear and tear pursuant to Section 7.

[Fraufruit]

This all seems to harken back to the day when family took care of family as many cultures still do.

[murphaph]

Thanks a lot Panda. To help me get a firm grip on this I'll try to do the calculation here and see if you think it's right. As far as I understand it the Pflegegeld he gets is not considered income, so only his pension payments would be deducted from the Grundfreibetrag of €12,096 so it would be (€680 x 12) €8,160 - €624 = €7,536 which would be deducted from the Grundfreibetrag:

€12.096 - €7,536 = €4,560

This €4,560 would have to be divided in half, one half for us and the other for his other daughter, so a final deduction of €2,280 for each family.

It's not much, but it's a lot better than the Pflegepauschbetrag of 600€ (Pflegegrad 2) divided in half, so €300.

My understanding is that we have to choose which deduction to take, either the Pflegepauschbetrag or the Unterhaltsleistungen. Is that correct?

[murphaph]

This all seems to harken back to the day when family took care of family as many cultures still do.

Most caring in Germany is actually done by the family too.

[PandaMunich]

My understanding is that we have to choose which deduction to take, either the Pflegepauschbetrag or the Unterhaltsleistungen. Is that correct?

No, you can claim for both.