How much childcare can I deduct per year?

From 2025, you can deduct 80% of childcare costs as special expenses, up to €4,800 per child per year. For earlier years (through 2024), the old rule applies: 2/3 of costs, max €4,000 per child. The cap and percentage are per child, so multiple children multiply your deductible volume.

Up to what age of the child can I claim childcare?

Up to age 14. The key is the child's age in the current calendar year: if your child turns 14 in May, costs are deductible through May — from June on, no more. Exception: children with a disability that arose before age 25 — no age limit applies.

Do I have to pay the Kita by bank transfer?

Yes. Cash payments are explicitly excluded. You need an invoice or formal decision (Kita-Bescheid, childminder contract) plus proof of bank payment. Standing orders and direct debits are fine. Cash and handwritten receipts are not.

What about food costs on the Kita invoice?

Meals are not deductible and must be backed out of the Kita invoice. Most facilities separate the food portion on the bill. If yours doesn't, ask for a statement — or subtract a flat 10-20% of the monthly fee as an estimated food share. Most Finanzämter accept this.

Can separated parents both claim childcare?

In principle yes, but only the parent where the child lives AND who actually paid the costs. If both parents contribute, each claims their share — but the cap is per child, not per parent, so you need to agree how to split it to stay within the cap.

Childcare Tax Deduction Germany 2026: Up to €4,800

Kita at €450 per month, a childminder at €800, after-school care at €180, an au pair at €600 pocket money plus room and board — for most families, childcare is the second-largest monthly bill after rent. The good news: from 2025, you can deduct 80% of it, up to €4,800 per child per year. This guide walks you through every detail of getting the full deduction.

In short: Childcare costs are special expenses under §10 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 EStG. From 2025: 80% deductible, up to €4,800 per child per year. Children under 14. Required: invoice + bank transfer. Meals must be excluded. A Lohnsteuer allowance (Freibetrag) gets you the refund monthly instead of waiting for the tax assessment.

The new rule from 2025

The Wachstumschancengesetz (Growth Opportunities Act) changed the deduction for tax years from 2025 onwards:

Year	Deductible %	Cap per child/year
Through 2024	2/3 of costs	€4,000
From 2025	80% of costs	€4,800

Meaning: your 2025 tax return (filed in 2026) already uses the new rule. Your 2026 return uses it too. For back-filed returns covering 2023 or 2024, the old 2/3 rule still applies.

The increase means: if you previously hit the old cap in full, you now get up to €800 more tax relief per child.

Who qualifies?

The child must…

be under 14 years old (exception: disability that arose before age 25 — then no age limit)
live in your household (primary residence)
be your biological, adopted, or foster child

You as parent must…

be the biological, adoptive, or foster parent — the person eligible for Kindergeld
have actually paid the costs (bank statement as proof)
have paid via bank transfer or direct debit — no cash

Important: a non-biological partner (new spouse, girlfriend) who co-pays the Kita cannot claim. Only biological or legally recognised parents.

What’s deductible — and what isn’t?

✅ Deductible

Kita / Kindergarten — parental contribution excluding meals
Childminder (Tagesmutter/Tagesvater) — monthly fee or hourly rate
After-school care (Hort) or all-day school — only the supervision portion, not tuition
Babysitter — if regular, under contract, billed properly
Au pair — the supervision portion (pocket money + pro-rated room and board)
Illness childcare — if the child is ill and you have to work

❌ Not deductible

Meals and food (even when included in the Kita bill — they must be backed out)
Tutoring / lessons (that’s instruction, not supervision)
Sports and music classes (leisure, not childcare)
Holiday camps without a clear supervision purpose during working hours
Cash-paid care without bank transfer proof
Grandparents looking after the child without a written contract and bank transfer

The meal-portion problem: the most common mistake

Kita bills almost always include meals. Typical split:

Supervision: €300–€600 per month
Meals: €50–€100 per month

If the invoice only shows a total, you must back the meal portion out yourself. Two ways:

Ask the Kita for a certificate — usually possible, often online.
Estimate meals as 10-20% of the monthly fee — most Finanzämter accept this approach when no exact split is available.

Tip: On request, the Kita usually issues a “Bescheinigung über Kinderbetreuungskosten zur Vorlage beim Finanzamt” — a tax-return-ready certificate. This makes the split clean and reduces follow-up questions.

Worked examples

Example 1 — Kita for one child

Marie, employee, 1 child (age 4), Kita €450/month including €60 meals.

Annual: 450 × 12 = €5,400
Minus meals: 60 × 12 = €720
Pure childcare: €4,680
80% deductible: €3,744 (below €4,800 cap)
At 30% marginal tax rate: about €1,123 tax saving per year

Example 2 — Two children, Kita + Hort

Tobias and Jana, married, 2 children:

Child 1 (age 3): Kita €650/month including €80 meals
Child 2 (age 8): Hort €180/month (no meals)

Child 1:

Year: 650 × 12 = €7,800 – meals €960 = €6,840 supervision
80% = €5,472 → cap of €4,800 applies → €4,800 deductible

Child 2:

Year: 180 × 12 = €2,160
80% = €1,728 deductible (below cap)

Total: €6,528 in special expenses. At 35% marginal tax rate: about €2,285 tax saving.

Example 3 — Childminder

Jan, 1 child (age 2), childminder at €800/month, pure supervision.

Year: 800 × 12 = €9,600
80% = €7,680 → cap of €4,800 applies → €4,800 deductible
The excess (€2,880) is lost — not transferable.

Where to enter it on your tax return

Everything goes into the Anlage Kind (child appendix):

Line “Kinderbetreuungskosten” — the full supervision costs (net, ex-meals) for the calendar year
The Finanzamt applies the 80% cap automatically
One separate Anlage Kind per child — don’t combine them

Supporting documents:

Certificate from the facility (Kita, childminder, Hort, au-pair contract)
Bank statements showing the transfers
Don’t submit them — only produce on request. Keep for 7 years.

Lohnsteuer-Freibetrag: get the refund monthly

If you don’t want to wait until the tax assessment, apply for a Lohnsteuer-Freibetrag (wage-tax allowance). The Finanzamt then reduces your monthly withholding, so the cash hits your pay slip directly.

Using Marie’s example:

Deductible amount: €3,744
At 30% marginal tax rate: about €1,123 savings
Spread over 12 months: about €94 more net per month — instead of a lump-sum refund after the assessment.

Application: “Antrag auf Lohnsteuer-Ermäßigung” form, filed at the Finanzamt or via ELSTER.

Background: Changing tax class in Germany.

Separated parents: who claims?

The most common post-separation tax dispute:

The primary-residence parent pays

That parent deducts 100% of costs — and gets the full €4,800 cap.

Both parents contribute

Each deducts what they actually paid by bank transfer. The cap is per child, not per parent — so you must agree who claims which portion to stay within the cap.

Shared custody (50/50)

This gets complex. In practice, the parent at whose address the child is primarily registered usually claims the deduction. For exact splits, a Steuerberater or Restio pays off.

Childcare vs school fees vs Kindergeld

These are often mixed up:

Bucket	Legal basis	Maximum
Childcare costs	§ 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 EStG	80%, max €4,800/child
School fees (private school)	§ 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 EStG	30% of costs, max €5,000/child
Kindergeld (child benefit)	§ 31 EStG	€250/child/month (2026)
Kinderfreibetrag (child allowance)	§ 32 EStG	Compared against Kindergeld (“Günstigerprüfung”)
Single-parent relief	§ 24b EStG	€4,260 + €240 per additional child

All these buckets run in parallel — it’s not either/or.

Common mistakes

Paid in cash. Grandma does the childcare and gets cash — no deduction.
Meals not backed out. Entering the Kita total without subtracting meals is a classic audit trigger.
Not applying for the Freibetrag. If you pay monthly, you can also get the refund monthly instead of waiting a year.
One Anlage Kind for multiple children. Each child gets its own Anlage — otherwise the Finanzamt allocates incorrectly.
Booking school fees under childcare. Private school tuition has a different paragraph with its own cap. Use the Sonderausgaben section correctly.
Forgetting the 14th birthday. From the month after the child turns 14, no more deduction (except disability).

How Restio helps

Childcare is a long-running monthly expense — often for 10+ years. Restio makes sure no euro slips through:

Receipt scan — photograph the Kita decision or childminder contract. Restio extracts supervision costs, meal portion, monthly fee, and calculates your deductible amount and tax saving directly.
Monthly overview — see where you stand for the year and whether you’re approaching the cap.
Freibetrag suggestion — Restio shows you when the Lohnsteuer-Freibetrag application pays off and gives you the exact figures for ELSTER.
Instant answers to family questions — “My child turns 14 in March — can I still claim anything?”, “Is the Hort partially tuition?”, “How do I split the deduction with my ex?” — in English or German, in seconds.

Over ten Kita years, the tax saving easily adds up to €12,000–€15,000. Provided you enter it correctly.