Short Answer
You can legally subtract two-thirds of your verified childcare expenses from your overall taxable calculation up to a statutory cap of 4,800 € per child each year. This financial relief program applies strictly to professional supervision fees while explicitly excluding the cost of catering or kindergarten meals.
What Most Expats Don't Realize
You paid high monthly fees for a local daycare facility (Kita) and a private evening nanny to maintain your full-time office position. You didn't realize the state completely disqualifies cash transactions and requires formal bank transfers alongside itemized structural invoices. Because you paid your nanny in paper banknotes without archiving the school's catering line-item breakdowns, the auditor canceled your entire child write-off, causing a direct cash loss of 1,600 € in avoidable taxes.
What To Do
- Ask your kindergarten or daycare administration for an annual itemized invoice that isolates the specific "care" costs from food expenses.
- Transfer all nanny salaries and daycare invoices strictly via traceable digital bank transfers rather than cash.
- "Ich mache die Betreuungskosten für mein Kind als Sonderausgaben geltend." (I am claiming the care costs for my child as special expenses.) — list these numbers inside the designated section of your annual tax documents.
The Truth
The state recognizes that you cannot work if no one is watching your kids. By subsidizing childcare through tax, they are essentially buying your productivity as a worker.