Taxes 2026: New Child Support Deduction Limits

Is your child of legal age and not attached to your tax household for income tax purposes? Because his income is insufficient, you pay him child support? You can deduct this pension from your overall income.

You can also deduct child support paid to an ascendant (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent) in need and towards which you have a maintenance obligation.

Public Service provide information on the amount of the maximum support deduction that you can report on your 2025 income tax return in these two cases.

Maintenance paid to a child of full age

It may be a pension paid to a child who is in education or who is unemployed. Whether or not the child lives with you, 2 conditions must be met to be able to pay child support:

• your child must not be attached to your tax household for income tax;
• his income is insufficient.

If your child lives with you

The flat-rate amount of the deduction is €4,039 per child (you can deduct other expenses for their actual and justified amount, such as tuition, up to a total deduction limit of €6,855). If your child is married or has a past, this amount is €8,079.

If your child is not living with you

• If he is single, you can deduct your expenses up to €6,855 per child.
• If he is a family caregiver, you can deduct up to €13,710.
• If he is married or married, the maximum amount of the deduction depends on the situation: €6,855 if the in-laws also participate in the maintenance of the couple; €13,710 if the in-laws do not participate in the maintenance of the couple.

Support paid to an ascendant

If you pay child support to an ascendant who needs it (parent, grandparent, step-parent), you can deduct his or her support from your income if the following 3 conditions are met:

• the pension is intended for a needy ascendant as part of the maintenance obligation;
• the pension covers your parent's basic needs (food, housing, health, etc.);
• the pension is commensurate with your resources.

If these conditions are met and you host the person, you can deduct from your income a lump sum of €4,039 for housing and food.

If the parent has over 75 years old and is housed in your home, the condition relating to the state of need is deemed to be met when the parent's resources do not exceed a certain ceiling: € 12,411.44 for a single person; € 19,268.80 for a couple.

You will have to indicate the amount of the pension to be deducted in your income tax return (supporting documents must be kept in case of application by the tax administration). The parent must also declare the amount of the pension received.