If you have your garden remodeled, you can deduct the labor costs of the craftsmen from your taxes.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Staying and working in your own garden means relaxation and joie de vivre for many people. It is all the worse for them when this is no longer possible for health reasons.
So it is understandable if they invest a lot in order to be able to continue to devote themselves to their favorite pastime. The question of whether these costs could reduce income tax as an extraordinary burden is just as understandable. After all, this is usually the case when a house or apartment is modified to make it suitable for the disabled.
A couple who had the garden of their family home redesigned to be wheelchair accessible also had these thoughts. An area of 18 square meters was paved. Raised beds were also created. Both had become necessary so that the wife could continue to cultivate her beds and tend the plants in them. The cost of this expansion amounted to 7000 euros.
In their income tax return, the spouses claimed these expenses as extraordinary expenses. Despite the proven degree of disability of 70 and the marks G and aG, the responsible tax office did not recognize the expenses.
The subsequent lawsuit before the Münster Finance Court was also unsuccessful in this matter. The judges considered only 20 percent of the wage costs incurred totaling 6,000 euros as tax-privileged craftsmen’s services. The plaintiffs had raised this point in their case as an alternative.
Which expenses count as extraordinary expenses
The Federal Fiscal Court also agreed with the opinion of the lower court in the revision (Az. VI R 25/20). The judges justified their decision with the fact that the expenses had not become necessary because of the illness of the wife, but because of the leisure activity she wanted.
However, this means that the costs did not necessarily have to be incurred. In order to be able to claim expenses as an extraordinary burden, however, it must be a question of inevitably incurred additional expenses for the basic needs of existence.
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Inevitably, in this case, it must be understood that a taxpayer cannot freely decide whether he wants to make these expenses. This means that there must be a compelling reason for expenses that the person concerned cannot avoid. In this case, free will, as in the case of redesigning the garden, must not be decisive for a decision.
The situation would be different, however, if a conversion had to be made in order to make an apartment or house usable for the disabled. The same would apply if action removed further health hazards.
Practical tip: Worth knowing about extraordinary loads
Income tax distinguishes two types of extraordinary charges: general and special. The general extraordinary burdens include medical expenses, expenses for aids such as glasses or dentures and the costs of a funeral.
The special extraordinary burdens include support payments for people in need or lump sums for the disabled and surviving dependents. While the general extraordinary burdens must be proven individually by the taxpayer, the special ones are defined by the legislature and their amount is directly reduced by the income tax.
On the other hand, expenses that fall within the area of general extraordinary burdens only reduce income tax if they exceed the personally reasonable burden. This depends on the level of income, marital status and the number of children.
It is therefore advisable in any case to collect receipts throughout the year and to plan expenses in a targeted manner. If, for example, a particularly large number of illness costs or expenses for medicines and aids have already been incurred in one year, it can be worth bringing forward a measure planned for the beginning of the following year to December.
Taxpayers must prove that they were forced to incur the expenses. For example, the doctor’s prescription or, in some cases, an official medical report for medical aids can serve as evidence. Once this proof is available, it is no longer necessary for subsequent purchases. Only the costs that are not reimbursed by health insurance are then taken into account for income tax.
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