FAMILY-RELATED DEDUCTIONS
Child care expenses for young children
To be entitled to a deduction for childcare expenses, the child must be counted at your expense. If you have the child kept outside your home (crèche or daycare center or approved child reminder: A tax credit equal to 50% of the expenses paid for childcare (excluding food costs and deduction made of family help received under custody of the child) is applied for the expenses that you incur for the care of your children aged less than 6 years on January 1st of the income year (children born after December 31, 2012 for taxation income for the year 2019 declared in 2020). The expenses taken into account include the salaries and social contributions paid to the child reminder.
If you live in a common-law relationship, only the parent who counts the dependent child can benefit from the tax credit provided that the supporting documents for the amounts paid are established in his name. However, in the case where the child’s maintenance burden is shared and neither of the parents justifies having primary responsibility for it, the amount of the tax credit is halved.
Expenses are limited to € 2,300 per child in care (€ 1,150 if the child is in an alternate residence or under shared care). You must indicate these expenses in the section “Childcare expenses for children under six years of age, see how to deduct child care expenses. If you declare online, the amounts paid in 2019 for these expenses and that you declare via the PAJEMPLOI system are reminded to you in order to help you declare the corresponding amounts.
If you have the child looked after at your home:
You can benefit from the tax credit for sums paid for home employment. For more details, you can refer to the information that you will find in the “Personal services” section.
As part of the withholding tax, the tax credit (childcare expenses for young children or employment of an employee at home) is part of the mechanism known as the “reduction advance and tax credit”. Thus, the credit that will be granted to you in the summer of 2020 for the expenses paid in 2019 will give rise to the payment of a deposit of 60% of the amount of this tax credit in January 2021. When the tax is paid on the 2020 income in 2021, the advance paid will decrease the credit that you may possibly have on the basis of the expenses incurred in 2020 (in 2020 you will therefore have received 100% of the tax credit to which you are entitled: 60% in January, and the balance in the summer).
Schooling of children
When you’re dependent or attached child pursues secondary or higher studies in a public or private establishment on December 31 of the taxation year (December 31, 2019 for the taxation of income in 2019), you can benefit from an income tax reduction.
Note: education must lead to the issue of a diploma (general, technological, professional or university training, excluding qualification courses for continuing education). In addition, education must be provided collectively and full-time in an establishment (with, where appropriate, work-study training). Finally, students must not be bound by an employment contract, nor be remunerated and must be free from any commitment during and at the end of their studies.
Compensatory allowance
You can benefit from a tax reduction if you are domiciled in France and if you pay in execution of a divorce decree, a divorce agreement approved by the judge or a divorce agreement by mutual consent without homologation by the judge, a capital compensatory allowance in one go or in installments within a period not more than 12 months from the date on which the judgment becomes final.
The tax reduction is equal to 25% of the amount of the payments made, the goods or rights allocated, retained within the limit of € 30,500 for the entire period of 12 months. When you pay a compensatory benefit partly in the form of an annuity and partly in the form of cash capital paid up within 12 months of the divorce, you do not benefit from the tax reduction. On the other hand, you retain the possibility of deducting from your taxable income the amount of the annuities paid, in respect of alimony. When the tax reduction is applicable, the sums collected by the beneficiary of the service are not subject to income tax.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” He is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
