Medical expenses
Doctor visits, medicines, dentist and glasses paid for a dependent family member are added to your own and count towards passing the excess.
CAF services · Tax return
Dependent family members for tax purposes
Since the assegno unico (the universal child benefit) was introduced, the deduction for children has changed profoundly, but the idea of a dependent family member has stayed: it still decides who can deduct the expenses paid for someone else.
01 · The people
Who can count as a dependent family member
Whether a family member counts as a dependant for tax purposes depends on two things that must both apply: the family relationship or relationship by marriage set out in the law, and the family member's income, which must stay below a threshold.
- Your spouse, provided you are not legally and actually separated.
- Your civil partner, treated in the same way as a spouse for all tax purposes.
- Your children, including adopted, fostered or placed children, with no age limit for dependant status.
- Other family members living with you: parents, sons- and daughters-in-law, parents-in-law, brothers and sisters, grandparents.
- For this last group, instead of living with you, it is enough that they receive maintenance payments from you that are not set by a court order.
A cohabiting partner is never a dependant for tax purposes, however stable the relationship and even if it is registered with the civil registry. This is one of the remaining differences between cohabitation and a civil partnership, and it is worth bearing in mind when deciding whose name the expenses go under.
02 · Income
The income limits
A family member is a dependant if their total annual income does not exceed a threshold. The threshold is higher for children up to a certain age and lower in the other cases.
- The limit refers to the family member's total income, before deductible charges.
- It also includes income taxed under cedolare secca (the flat tax on rental income) and the exempt part of employment income earned in border areas.
- For people under the flat-rate scheme, what counts is the income subject to the substitute tax.
- The limit is annual and absolute: going over it by even one euro means losing dependant status for the whole year.
- Exempt income does not count, such as some welfare benefits and tax-exempt study grants.
- Dependant status is checked month by month when working out the deductions, but the income limit is looked at over the whole year.
| Family member | Income limit |
|---|---|
| Children up to a certain age | Higher threshold |
| Children above that age | Ordinary threshold |
| Spouse or civil partner | Ordinary threshold |
| Other family members living with you | Ordinary threshold |
The case that comes back every year: a university student does a few months of summer work and goes over the threshold. The consequence is not only losing the deduction for dependants, but also that the parents can no longer deduct the student's university and medical expenses for the whole year.
03 · After the assegno unico
What has changed for children
The introduction of the assegno unico e universale absorbed the deduction for children under a certain age, but it did not do away with the idea of a dependent child.
The deduction for children
It remains only for children older than the age covered by the assegno unico, and for children with disabilities under their own rules.
The assegno unico
It replaces the deduction for younger children and is a direct payment, not a reduction in tax. You apply to INPS (the national social security institute) with an ISEE (the family income and assets indicator).
Dependant status remains
Even when no deduction is due, a child is still a dependant for tax purposes if their income is below the threshold. That is what allows you to deduct their expenses.
The child's expenses
Medical, university, sports and transport expenses: they are deducted by whoever pays them, provided the child is a dependant.
The point that causes confusion
Two different things that go by the same name.
- The deduction for family dependants reduces the tax of the person who has the dependant
- The assegno unico is a sum paid by INPS, independent of tax
- Dependant status is the condition that makes the expenses paid for that family member deductible
- A child can give no right to any deduction and still be a dependant
04 · Between parents
How the deductions are split
When both parents can claim the child as a dependant, the split is a choice, and it makes a difference.
- The ordinary rule is a fifty-fifty split between the parents.
- Alternatively, the whole deduction can go to the parent with the higher income, which is the more advantageous choice when the other parent's tax is too low to absorb it.
- In the event of separation or divorce, if there is no agreement the deduction goes to the parent with custody, or is split in the case of shared custody.
- If one parent is a dependant of the other for tax purposes, the whole deduction goes to the second parent.
- The choice is stated in the tax return and applies for that year: it can be changed the following year.
The dependant percentage declared by the two parents must be consistent. If both state one hundred per cent, the data cross-check brings the duplication to light and the deduction is adjusted for both of them.
05 · Why it matters
What you can deduct thanks to dependant status
This is where dependant status keeps its full value, even where the deduction for dependants has been absorbed by the assegno unico.
Education and university
School fees, university fees, rent for students living away from home.
Sports activities
For young people within a set age range, up to an expense cap for each child.
Public transport
Season tickets for a dependent family member, within an overall limit.
Insurance
Premiums for death and disability cover, within the set maximums.
Supplementary pension
Contributions paid for a dependent family member are deductible by the person who pays them.
06 · To the employer
How to notify dependant status
If you are an employee or a pensioner, you can get the deductions directly in your pay by notifying them to your sostituto d'imposta (withholding agent: your employer or the body that pays your pension).
- You notify them with the declaration of details for deductions, which is handed in at the start of the employment and updated whenever something changes.
- You must give the codice fiscale (Italian tax code) of each family member, the dependant percentage and the months.
- Every change (a birth, loss of dependant status, separation) must be notified straight away, not at the end of the year.
- If you notify nothing, you can recover the deductions in your tax return and receive them as a refund.
- If you notify a dependant who then stops qualifying, you end up with a year-end adjustment to pay: it is a cash-flow problem, not a question of entitlement.
- Dependant status must also appear in the ISEE if you apply for related benefits.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
My son worked over the summer and went over the limit. What happens?
He loses dependant status for the whole year, not only for the months he worked. The income limit is annual and absolute.
The heaviest practical consequence is not the deduction for dependants, but the fact that the medical and university expenses his parents paid for him that year are no longer deductible by them. He will file his own return and deduct them himself, if his tax is high enough to absorb them.
My father lives with me and has only the minimum pension. Is he my dependant?
Yes, if he lives with you and his total income is below the threshold. Instead of living with you, it is enough that you pay him maintenance that has not been set by a court.
The advantage is not only the deduction for other dependent family members: you can deduct his medical expenses, which at an older age are often the largest item.
We have lived together for years but we are not married. Can I claim her as a dependant?
No. Cohabitation, even when registered with the civil registry, is not one of the relationships that give the right to dependant status for tax purposes.
A civil partnership is different, as it is treated in the same way as marriage for all tax purposes. Each of you can still deduct the expenses you actually paid for yourself.
With the assegno unico, is there still any point in listing children as dependants?
Yes, and it matters. Even when the deduction for dependants is absorbed by the assegno unico, the status of dependent child is the condition that allows parents to deduct the expenses paid for that child.
If the child is not listed as a dependant, their medical, university and sports expenses do not go into the parents' tax return.
Let's talk
Dependant status is checked every year, it is not inherited
A child who starts working, a parent who receives a higher pension, a spouse going back to work: every change needs looking at before the tax return.