Did you know that if you have children, you can recoup some of the costs you incur for childcare by declaring them on your tax return? This doesn’t only apply to sums spent on sending children to a crèche or a child-minder, but also to a host of other expenses such as after-school care, educational, artistic and sport camps that take place during the school holidays and home care for children that are sick.
The costs you incur if a dependent child or dependent children are at boarding school are tax deductible too. This applies to children under the age of 14. For dependent children that are living with a severe disability the maximum age is 21.
Generally speaking, for this year’s tax declaration (that refers to income in 2024) you can set off a maximum of 16.40 euro/dependent child/day spent on childcare against tax. Of the amount declared you will receive 45% back in tax. For example if you have 1 child that stayed in after-school care 10 times and this cost 10 euro/day, you will receive 45 euro back from the Tax Department.
It is important that the organisation providing the childcare is recognised by the government and is able to issue a document stating what you have paid. This can be filed together with your tax declaration
After-school care, camps and boarding school
In addition to crèches there are also a whole host of other childcare costs that are tax deductible.
Care provided before and after school. Many schools provide care for children before and after school. The cost of this kind of care can be set off against tax. Some schools also charge for lunchtime supervision. This too is tax deductible.
Camps organised during the school holidays. The cost of sending your child(ren) to a camp during the school holidays is also tax deductible. This doesn’t only apply to educational or sport camps. Camps organised by any recognised organisations, including youth mouvements such as the Scouts or Chiro, are also included. The same is true of organised play weeks (speelplein).
If your child boards at school during the week the costs you incure can be set off against tax on condition that your child is not yet 14-years-old.
Home care for sick children: if you use a recognised organisation to look after your sick child, you can set the costs for this off against tax.
Is your child younger than 3? Choose the most advantageous option
If your child is younger than 3 on 1 January of the fiscal year, the tax office will give you the choice of either taking advantage of the tax break on childcare or enjoying a higher “tax-free sum” (the amount of your earnings that are exempt from tax) than would otherwise have been the case. You can make this choice again each tax year. Each year you will be asked to choose whether to enter the actual expenses incurred or request an increase in the “tax-free sum”.
But when would it be better to choose the second option? On the one hand, if you have no income or a low income from working and as a result pay no income tax you will of course get no tax relief for childcare. On the other hand if the amount you had paid for childcare is so low that the amount you would get back would be less that the amount of tax you avoid paying as you have opted for a higher “tax-free sum”. To be certain of what the best option is for you log on to the MyMinfin.be website or use the Federal Finance Department’s Tax-Calc application.
In order to benefit from the tax break that is available for childcare costs you have to have earned enough to be liable to pay tax in the first place.
If you have a child under the age of 3 and opt for an increase in the “tax-free sum”, but are not liable to pay tax as your income is too low, the Tax Department will give you a tax credit payment of a maximum of 550 euro (fiscal year 2024).
Tips for your tax return
The Tax Department will fill in the information it has at its disposal regarding childcare in the “Simplified Tax Return Proposal” it drafts for you. However, it is often the case that not everything has been filled in automatically, so it is always best to check thoroughly to make sure that all the childcare costs that give entitlement to a tax break are included.
Always ask whether an organisation is recognised by the government. Only organisations that are recognised can issue documents that give entitlement to a tax break. Most of them send the documents a couple of months after the activity has taken place. They often appear automatically in the person concerned fiscal file that they can view on the MyMinfin.be website.