heating costs
July 7, 2011 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Michael Herrmann
Dear Sir or Madam,
My divorced mother, who is 75 years old, lives alone in the house where my parents used to live. I am registered as my main residence in that house. I work approximately 160 km away in another city and live in a second apartment, visiting home every two weeks to check on things. The house belongs to my mother, who only receives a small pension of around 500 euros per month. I pay the heating costs and heating oil for my mother every year.
My question is: Can I deduct the heating costs as extraordinary expenses or as special expenses from my taxes, as I financially support my mother in this way?
Thank you.
Dear inquirer,
first of all, thank you for your inquiry, which I would like to answer based on the information provided and considering your commitment within the scope of an initial consultation. The response is based on the description of the situation. Missing or incorrect information about the actual circumstances can affect the legal outcome.
When supporting family members, there is a significant tax difference between "typical" maintenance payments and "atypical" support in an emergency situation:
"Typical" maintenance payments include everything intended for basic living needs: These are
- food, clothing, and housing,
- items for personal satisfaction (e.g. tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics),
- other costs of normal living, such as health insurance premiums, expenses for education and training, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, etc.
I would generally consider the assumption of heating costs as permissible maintenance payments.
However, maintenance payments are only recognized as tax-deductible if the supported individual is in need. This is the case when they have little or no income of their own and little or no assets.
Therefore, the neediness fails due to the ownership of the house. Furthermore, even if your mother had no assets, her pension would be offset against the maintenance payments, so that only a small portion of the maintenance payments would be deductible.
The income tax law does not provide for any further deduction possibilities.
I hope that with this information, I have given you a sufficient overview of the situation within the scope of your commitment and this initial consultation.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Herrmann
Dipl.-Finanzwirt (FH)
Tax consultant
