Tax Deductions for Dependents in 2024: Which Families are Eligible?

Changes in Family Deductions with the Introduction of the Single Allowance

After the introduction of the single allowance, deductions for dependent children have become a confusing and difficult subject to understand.
Which families can still benefit from them in their pay slip or in the tax return settlement? For children up to 21 years old who receive the single allowance, deductions are not granted (absorbed by the new measure for dependent children), but they are still recognized for those over 21 years old who are still financially dependent.

Who is Still Entitled to Family Deductions?

The deductions have not completely disappeared with the single allowance but have remained for certain types of children.
What changes in practice with the introduction of the single allowance, starting from March 1, 2022? The full effects will be seen precisely with this year’s tax return (last year, in fact, deductions were granted for all children for the first two months of the year).
Let’s see the new parameters and which families will still be eligible for deductions for dependent children, even in the case of large families.

The implementation of the single allowance has changed the system of economic support to families, as it absorbs part of the benefits provided to households.
However, when it comes to deductions for dependent children, there has not been a cancellation but a redefinition, a reshaping of the same, following new parameters aimed at including families otherwise excluded from support.

The single allowance is received by families with children up to 21 years old (natural, adopted, or entrusted), and the amount is adjusted based on the ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Index), while in the case of children with disabilities, there is no age parameter.

Families with Children Over 21 Years Old

For children older than 21 years, the single allowance is not provided.
Consequently, families with dependent children over 21 years old continue to benefit from deductions.

Family deductions for dependent children remain valid for households with children over 21 years old.
It is important to remember that article 12 of the TUIR regulates these deductions, and the two important parameters to consider are the age and income of the child.

Children are considered financially dependent when they: are under 24 years old and earn an income equal to or less than 4,000 euros in the reference tax period; once they exceed 24 years, they earn an income equal to or less than 2,840.51 euros (the same threshold provided for other dependents).

There have been changes in the rules for large families, i.e., with more than four dependent children, for whom the additional deduction of 1,200 euros provided for by paragraph 1-bis of article 1 of the TUIR has been abolished.
The decree on the single allowance has repealed (as of March 1, 2022) the aforementioned paragraph, thus eliminating this additional deduction intended for families with many children who now benefit from the same deductions as families with fewer children (obviously always in relation to the number of children).