Extraordinary burden
The extraordinary burden ( AGB ) is regulated in Section 33 ff. Of the German Income Tax Act. The legislator wants the tax reduction into account exceptional costs unreasonable hardship in the income tax to avoid. If a taxpayer inevitably incurs higher expenses than the overwhelming majority of taxpayers with the same income , the same financial circumstances and the same marital status (extraordinary burden), the income tax will be reduced upon request by the fact that the part of the expenses that exceeds the burden that is reasonable for the taxpayer is reduced from the total amount Income is deducted. Expenses inevitably arise if one cannot avoid them for legal, factual or moral reasons and insofar as the expenses are necessary under the circumstances and do not exceed a reasonable amount .
Exceptional loads of a general nature
Examples of Section 33 EStG:
-
Medical expenses :
- Medical costs, unless they are covered by the health insurance
- Travel expenses to doctors and therapies
- Co-payments on medication.
- Funeral expenses of a close relative if inheritance is insufficient to cover expenses.
- Nursing costs or nursing home costs for the parents, insofar as they are not covered by benefits from statutory or private long-term care insurance .
- Travel costs for attending the group meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous recommended by the official or medical examiner are general terms and conditions.
- a Ayurveda treatment is Conditions when the medical need has been detected by a medical certificate created before amt.
- Eye operations that correct ametropia ( refractive surgery ) are to be recognized as an extraordinary burden according to a ruling by the OFD Koblenz. Since laser eye surgery always involves ametropia and thus a taxpayer's disease, the operation is to be classified as a curative treatment. It is not necessary to present a medical certificate for the laser eye surgery.
- Civil litigation costs (up to assessment period 2012). From 2013, the deduction is legally excluded by Section 33 (2) sentence 4 EStG - unless it concerns expenses without which the taxpayer runs the risk of losing his livelihood and being unable to meet his vital needs within the usual framework . Whether divorce costs are non-deductible as a result of the new regulation is controversial.
Particularities when claiming medical expenses
When claiming medical costs as an extraordinary burden within the meaning of Section 33 EStG, very strict verification requirements apply, which result from Section 64 EStDV, among other things. As a rule, a prescription from a doctor or alternative practitioner for drugs, remedies and aids must be presented. In some cases, for example when a taxpayer's child suffering from dyslexia or another disability is accommodated away from home, a prior assessment by the responsible medical officer or by the medical service of the health insurance companies is necessary. There are, in some cases, major constitutional concerns against the latter, mainly relating to the need for prior assessment.
Extraordinary burdens in special cases
Examples of § 33a and § 33b EStG:
- Maintenance expenses , insofar as they have not already been classified as special expenses , and any professional training for a person who is legally dependent on the taxpayer or his spouse.
- Special needs of an adult child who is in vocational training, placed outside the home and who is entitled to an allowance or child benefit.
- Lump sums for disabled people, survivors and carers.
Reasonable burden
The reasonable burden depends on the total amount of income (as defined in Section 2 (3) EStG), marital status and number of children ( Section 33 (2) EStG). If the sum of the extraordinary burdens is higher than the reasonable burden, only the excess amount is taken into account to reduce tax.
According to a ruling by the Federal Fiscal Court on January 19, 2017, the calculation of the reasonable burden must be carried out in stages.
Example 1 (grading according to outdated case law)
A married taxable couple with 3 children, with a total income of 80,000 euros, has medical costs in 2010 that are not reimbursed by the health insurance company in the amount of 3,000 euros.
Tax effect:
- Extraordinary charge € 3,000
- reasonable burden 2% of 80,000 € = 1,600 €
- Reduction of the tax assessment base by (3,000 - 1,600) = 1,400 €
Example 2 (gradual graduation according to new case law)
An unmarried taxpayer, without a child, with a total income of 40,000 euros, has medical costs in 2017 that are not reimbursed by the health insurance company in the amount of 3,000 euros. Its reasonable burden is 6% of the total amount of income.
Tax effect:
- Extraordinary charge € 3,000
- reasonable burden 6% of 40,000 €
- Calculation of the reasonable burden up to the 1st season: 5% of € 15,340 = € 767
- Calculation of the reasonable burden up to the 2nd season: 6% of the difference of 40,000 € (total amount of income) and the 15,340 € from the 1st season, i. H. 6% of (€ 40,000 - € 15,340 =) € 24,660 = € 1,479.60
- Reduction of the tax assessment base by (3,000 - 767 - 1,479.60) = € 753.40
| The reasonable burden is | for a total amount of income | ||
| 1st season
up to € 15,340 |
2nd season
from € 15,340 to € 51,130 |
3rd season
over € 51,130 |
|
| 1. for taxpayers who have no children and for whom income tax | |||
| according to the basic table | 5% | 6% | 7% |
| after splitting table is charged | 4% | 5% | 6% |
| 2. for taxpayers with | |||
| a child or two children | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| three or more children | 1 % | 1 % | 2% |
| of the total amount of income. | |||
Eliminated extraordinary burdens
In Section 33 (3) EStG (old version) there was an exemption for household help and home residents until 2008 . The child care costs were deductible as extraordinary expenses until 2005, now they became (from 2012) special editions relabelled.
Calculation scheme
In order to be able to determine your own reasonable burden and thus the tax-effective extraordinary burdens as simply as possible , the following scheme can be used.
| Sum of the extraordinary loads of a general nature | = | ________ Euro | |||||
| Total amount of income Reasonable burden: |
________ Euro | ||||||
| Single and single spouses without children | Spouses without children were predisposed together | Single and married people with 1-2 children | Single and married people with 3 children or more | ||||
| 5% | 4% | 2% | 1 % | up to 15,340 euros | ________ Euro | ||
| 6% | 5% | 3% | 1 % | up to 51,130 euros | + ________ euros | ||
| 7% | 6% | 4% | 2% | from 51,130 euros | + ________ euros | ||
| reasonable burden overall | = ________ euros | ./. | ________ Euro | ||||
| Exceptional tax effective charge | = | ________ Euro | |||||
Individual evidence
- ↑ BFH, judgment of February 13, 1987, BStBl. II p. 427
- ↑ BFH, judgment of April 18, 1990, BStBl. II p. 543
- ↑ OFD Koblenz, order of June 22, 2006, Az .: S 2284 A - St 32 3
- ↑ In the opinion of the Rhineland-Palatinate Finance Court, inevitable litigation costs in connection with a divorce are still deductible. An appeal was lodged with the BFH against the judgment of the finance court ; Az. VI R 66/14
- ↑ About taking medical costs into account as extraordinary burdens
- ↑ BFH, judgment v. January 19, 2017, VI R 75/14. Retrieved April 1, 2017 .
- ↑ by Thilo Rudolph: Extraordinary loads: How to calculate the reasonable load now. In: Income tax compact. July 5, 2017, accessed on November 28, 2019 (German).
