Private health insurance
February 22, 2012 | 20,00 EUR | answered by RAin/StBin Henriette Regulla-Schiessl
Hello,
I (working as a freelancer since 2010) am insured with my father in the private health and long-term care insurance for cost reasons. The contributions are debited from my father's account.
Now (in the year 2012), the health insurance sent my father the "Certificate of reported contributions to the German Pension Insurance Association" for the year 2011.
The certificate lists exactly how much contribution he paid for himself and for me.
My father had "advanced" the contributions for me. I have now transferred the total amount to his account (in 2012).
The question now is, can I deduct the health insurance contributions from 2011 in my income tax return for 2011, or is it not possible because I transferred them to my father in 2012?
If not, can I then account for the contributions in the income tax return for 2012?
Dear questioner,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I am happy to answer in the context of an initial consultation, taking into account your input and the rules of this platform. The response is based on the facts you have provided. Adding, omitting, or changing information, ambiguities, or errors in the facts can change the tax result.
In general, special expenses are based on the principle of outflow, i.e. consideration is given in the year in which the outflow occurred (§ 11 para. 2 EStG). Furthermore, special expenses must be made by the taxpayer himself or on his behalf in an abbreviated payment method. If the father pays health insurance contributions for family members, these are generally considered special expenses for the father. For example, if the son, who uses a car registered to the father, pays the liability insurance, the son cannot claim special expenses because there is no legal relationship between him and the insurance company. The father cannot claim the liability insurance because he did not make the payments.
In your case, it depends on who the policyholder is. If it is your father, your father would have been entitled to the special expense deduction as long as he was economically burdened. This has been waived due to payment in 2012. Therefore, neither your father nor you (as there is no legal relationship to health insurance) would be entitled to the special expense deduction. If you are the policyholder, you would definitely be entitled to the special expense deduction, as your father made the payments on your behalf.
However, I would like to point out that there is extensive case law regarding the special expense deduction with payments made by third parties, which may not always seem logical. For this reason, you should claim the special expenses for yourself in 2011 with reference to the payments already made, i.e. bearing the economic burden (net principle).
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
Best regards,
Henriette Regulla
Lawyer
Tax consultant
