Claiming private school fees as a tax deduction

According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, more than 800,000 pupils attended a private school in 2025. The school fees payable by parents amount to an average of more than 2,000 euros per child per year. Part of these expenses can be claimed as tax-deductible special expenses on one’s tax return. But does this also apply to contributions paid not directly to the school but to an associated support association? The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) recently had to address this question in case X R 27/23.

In the case in question, a married couple whose children attended a private school paid several contributions each year to the school’s friends’ association. The association’s statutory purpose is to support school life, in particular through events, school trips to the countryside and the provision of learning materials. The couple claimed the contributions, totalling 1,000 euros, as special expenses in their income tax return. However, the tax office did not take these into account. In its view, the contributions paid did not constitute school fees. It argued that there was insufficient assurance that the Friends’ Association used the contributions exclusively to support school attendance and passed them on to the private school. The couple brought an action against this decision before the Münster Finance Court.

In principle, 30 per cent of the school fees paid may be claimed as special expenses under Section 10(1)(9) of the Income Tax Act, up to a maximum of 5,000 euros per child per calendar year. However, this applies only to the proportionate costs of regular school attendance. Fees paid for the accommodation, supervision or catering of the children are excluded. This applies not only to private schools in Germany, but also to comparable schools within the EEA and to German schools in third countries.

The Finance Court and, ultimately, the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) ruled in favour of the couple. Neither the exact designation of ‘school fees’ nor the requirement that the payment be made directly to the school was decisive. In the case in question, it had been sufficiently proven that the fees were levied exclusively as payment for the children’s school attendance. This was substantiated, on the one hand, by a certificate from the parents’ association confirming that the fees were not used for the children’s accommodation, care or meals. Furthermore, it was proven that the full amount of the fees was passed on by the parents’ association to the school.

The Federal Fiscal Court’s (BFH) ruling is to be welcomed insofar as it broadens the scope of contributions that are to be treated as school fees. At the same time, however, the BFH restricts the deduction for special expenses in other respects. In its judgement, the BFH makes it clear that voluntary contributions to the parents’ association, which – as in the case in question – are to be regarded as consideration for school attendance, cannot be deducted as charitable donations. This is disadvantageous for taxpayers in that donations to charitable (parents’) associations can be claimed in full as tax-deductible expenses; school fees, by contrast, are only deductible at 30 per cent.

The ruling shows that contributions to school support associations may, in principle, qualify for tax relief as school fees. In order to provide evidence for the special expenses deduction, parents should obtain written confirmation from the school support association that the contributions are levied as payment for school attendance and are passed on to the school.