German tax relief for student rental in Italy

Hi,

My wife will be going to a private art school in Florence, Italy next year. She is registered here in Germany. I would be surprised if the German government would give us a tax reduction for the tuition at a private foreign school, but what about the cost of the studio rental? Has anyone received tax credit for the accommodation cost, or private school tuition?

Thanks,

Ken

tuition yes as long as it's not juggling class or something, and has something to do with your career . accommodation no.

One related example that I know of:

If you do language classes abroad, and if your employer gives you a written statement saying something like "We appreciate and encourage that xxx learns Italian, because he can put it to use in his job, and it will further his career prospects with us", then you can usually deduct the tuition from your income. It's harder with travel and accommodation, because the Finanzamt will suspect that you are combining the language classes with a holiday, but they tend to accept it for full time classes.

Though if you do something like art school, and there are no immediate income prospects related to it, then there's no income to deduct the expenses from, is there?

(Your wife's expenses cannot be deducted from your income. It has to be her income)

Thanks for the information.

Ken

I would check with a Steuerbreater, as training and upgrading your skills is very much tax deductible (including travel costs) but it makes a big difference on how it is classified, as a Fortbildung or an Ausbildung (spelling?) The difference being on how much is tax deductible and ultimately how much you get back. At the time the Finazamp wanted to classify it as a Ausbildung rather than a Fortbildung (or visa versa can't remember exactly) but our Steuerbreater fought it for us, and gained us an extra 3.000€ !! More than earned her money. He/she can also can tell you what is tax deductible so you know what receipts to keep. Trying to collect them 2 years latter is a real pain.