Accommodating your mother for free in a family studio or welcoming an adult child in difficulty can reduce your tax. The tax authorities treat this aid as alimony in kind. It is then deductible from your taxable income, provided you prove the state of need of the beneficiary, the existence of a maintenance obligation (for adult ascendants and descendants) and the proportionality of the aid to your resources.
This mechanism remains underused even though it can significantly reduce the tax bill. “Fiscally, the provision of free accommodation to a parent or adult child in need is treated as alimony paid in kind, assessed at a minimum at the fixed rate allowed by the administration, or in actual terms if the rental value justifies it”explains Maître Benjamin Boulard, lawyer at the Paris Court of Appeal. You still need to know the right criteria and secure the declaration.
Eligibility conditions and amount of deduction
Three criteria cumulative are required: the beneficiary must be in need (income insufficient for their essential needs); a maintenance obligation must exist for ascendants and descendants (parents, grandparents, in-laws, adult children but not brothers and sisters) and the assistance must be proportionate to your means.
Accommodation and food at home entitle you to deduction accepted by the administration (flat rate) or, if you prefer, to the actual deduction on supporting documents when the rental value and the charges incurred exceed the flat rate. “The administration will not agree to classify as alimony the provision of a very comfortable second home unrelated to the concrete needs of the parents”warns Maître Boulard.
Declaration: boxes, supporting documents and pitfalls
Report the pension in kind in the deductible alimony section (boxes 6GI to 6GU). Remember to keep for 3 years the estimate of the rental value of the accommodation, proof of rental charges paid (water, heating, recoverable charges), elements attesting to the state of need (resources, unemployment, low pensions) and the signed certificate from the beneficiary.
“Think about the symmetrical declaration: the parent or child accommodated must declare the pension received, otherwise your deduction may be called into question”warns Maître Boulard.
Welcoming people over 75
Another case exists for the people you welcome into your home permanently, and with whom you have no maintenance obligation (neither your mother, nor your father, nor your children but a brother, a sister, an uncle, an aunt or the same person not related to you).
You can deduct 4,075 euros per person welcomed provided that they have over 75 years olddoes not benefit from alimony and his resources are very limited (2025 income does not exceed 12,411.44 euros for a single person or 19,268.80 euros for a couple). Note that this hosted person does not have to declare this amount on their own tax return.
