If you personally care for a person with a care degree of at least 2 in your or their home in Germany or another EU / EEA country and do not receive any income for this, you can be granted a lump sum for the expenses incurred. From the 2021 assessment period, the amount of care lump sums will be taken into account on a graduated basis depending on the care degree of the person being cared for or the "H" mark.

Income is, for example, the care allowance that the helpless person receives from a care insurance company and passes on to you in order to remunerate your care services or to reimburse the expenses incurred by you in the process. If the care allowance is only used to directly secure the necessary basic care of the helpless person (payment of an external caregiver, purchase of necessities that are necessary for care or facilitate care), there is no income.

The care allowance received by the parents of a disabled child for this child does not count as income.

The care allowance is regularly granted only for the care of relatives. If the care is provided by more than one person, the care lump sum must be divided according to the number of caregivers. If one person receives income for this, this person is not to be included in the division.

The care lump sum can also be taken into account in addition to the disability lump sum transferred from the child to the parents.

Finally, you must include the identification number of the cared-for person in your income tax return.