Do you pay alimony to your loved ones? It’s up to you to declare the amount to the tax authorities. However, do not think that any amount paid is deductible from your taxable income!
Family is for life! Several provisions of the Civil Code provide for a duty of family assistance. This reciprocal maintenance obligation exists from parents to their children and vice versa, but also for the benefit of grandparents and grandchildren, and vice versa.
On the other hand, generation skipping is not possible: alimony paid by a child to his grandfather or grandmother is only deductible if his own parents are financially failing or deceased. In the same way, grandparents can only deduct the help provided to their grandchildren in need if the child’s parents are not able to help them.
Help for parents in need
Family solidarity is not limited to elderly or sick parents. Even if they are young and in good health, you have an obligation to help your parents make ends meet if their income is insufficient to allow them to live decently. The term food has a broad meaning and refers not only to monetary payments, but also to food, housing, clothing, health costs, electricity bills, etc. If you pay these expenses directly on behalf of your parents, they constitute alimony in the same way as monetary payments. It is up to you to set the amount that will allow your parents to live decently, while remaining within reasonable limits. The tax authorities may call into question part of the amount deducted if they consider it excessive.
Double-edged help
Alimony works according to the system of communicating vessels: it is a charge deductible from income for the person who pays it and constitutes taxable income for the person who receives it. If the parent(s) receiving your alimony have other income, this may make them taxable, or at least lead to the reduction, or even the elimination of certain social benefits that they receive, such as housing assistance.
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Separation, divorce, studies… aid paid to minor or adult children
If your minor children do not live under your roof, the alimony you pay to the other parent to meet their needs is a deductible expense from your taxable income. The amount of alimony can be fixed by a court decision, in a lawyer’s document in the event of amicable divorce, or by agreement between the two parents. On the other hand, the law prohibits the deduction of alimony possibly paid for a child who lives under the alternating residence regime.
The assistance paid to your child over the age of 18 who does not live under your roof is considered as alimony deductible from your taxable income when he cannot provide for himself due to his disability or his studies, for example. The child may also find himself in a state of need because he is unemployed, receives little or no compensation, receives RSA or is ill. The maintenance obligation towards a child does not end upon reaching the age of majority or at the age of 25.as is sometimes believed: your duty to help continues regardless of their age as long as they are in a situation of need.
The maximum deductible for children’s pension
Alimony paid to an adult child is deductible within the limit of 6674 euros per yearper child in need, for 2023 income to be declared in 2024.
The alimony tax declaration
The tax authorities cannot guess that you owe alimony to one or more of your relatives. Also, you must declare the amount on your tax return at the end of step 3 (chapter your charges) for the online declaration.
Income declaration: these 10 boxes that the tax authorities cannot pre-fill
You will declare these payments on one or other of the 6EL or 6EM lines for adult children not counted as dependents, or 6GU, 6GP, 6GI Or 6GJ depending on the parental relationship (minor child, adult child, parent, ex-spouse) and if it concerns alimony resulting from a court decision. Under the amount declaration boxes, you must indicate the names and addresses of the person(s) receiving alimony.
First, the declared alimony is deducted from your taxable income. In the three years that follow, the tax authorities can contest the deduction of alimony if it considers, for example, that the beneficiary is not in a state of need or that the amount is too high. For their part, the person receiving alimony must declare it to the tax authorities since it is income.
Transfer: useful proof
For all alimony deducted, you must be able, if the tax authorities so request, to prove that they have actually been paid and that the beneficiary is in need. It is wise to pay alimony to favor the transfer (possibly automatic) from your bank account to that of the beneficiary: you will find the proof of payments more easily if you are asked for them.
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