Ask a tax advisor on the topic of Income tax return

Maintenance payments for a partner

February 11, 2019 | 50,00 EUR | answered by Steuerberater Knut Christiansen

Hello,

I am currently living abroad with my partner. In a few months, we will be moving to Germany and living together in a shared household. We have a child together who also lives in the household. We are not married. My partner does not work, she takes care of the child and the household and has no income. I cover both the expenses for the household and for my partner's personal expenses. However, I am currently not making any clearly defined maintenance payments for my partner or our child. My partner has a credit card linked to my personal bank account which she uses for all expenses. I make any necessary transfers from my account.

When we relocate to Germany, I would like to be able to deduct my maintenance payments from my taxes. My income mainly comes from renting out properties in Germany, with a smaller portion coming from capital gains (dividends). I assume that the tax deductibility of maintenance payments is independent of the type of income.

What amount (monthly or annually) can I claim as maintenance payment? Is it essentially all the costs I incur for the shared household and my partner's personal expenses, or is there a fixed or maximum amount? Would my partner be liable for income tax if the payments exceed a certain amount? Can I claim maintenance costs for our shared child, even if they are living in our household?

Do the payments need to go directly to my partner in order to be recognized as maintenance costs? I had envisioned setting up a joint account where all household and personal expenses for my partner would be paid from. I would transfer the necessary amounts from my personal account to the joint account. Can I then simply claim 50% of the transferred amounts as maintenance, since my partner is entitled to 50% of the balance due to the joint ownership of the account? Or is a clearer distinction required? What should be the ideal amount for the transfers in order to claim the highest possible maintenance amount on my end, without creating a tax liability for my partner?

Thank you & kind regards,

Steuerberater Knut Christiansen

Good day and thank you for your inquiry, which I would like to answer as part of an initial consultation as follows.

You can deduct amounts up to the basic tax-free allowance (2018: 9,000 EUR, 2019: 9,168 EUR) as extraordinary expenses in your income tax return using attachment UN. If you also cover health insurance/nursing care insurance, this would be additionally deductible. However, the income and benefits of the mother (e.g. parental allowance) would need to be taken into account. Information on this would need to be provided in the form.

If you pay more, this would not result in any income tax liability for your partner. You cannot deduct child support, as you are entitled to child benefit or the child allowance.

Furthermore, it is advisable that you transfer the amounts to an account in your partner's name with the text "support", as you will need to provide proof of the costs.

I hope this answers your question. If not, please feel free to ask any further questions at no cost.

Best regards,

Knut Christiansen
Tax advisor