2024 summer camp deduction, the trick to deducting them from your taxes anyway

Summer camp deduction, is it possible or not? With the end of school, many families find themselves in difficulty, especially if, with the children at home, they cannot count on the help of their grandparents.
In fact, with both parents working, the summer would be an unsustainable period without summer centers where they can leave their children to play and have fun with other children while working.
The summer centre, however, even if it is very convenient as a substitute for school in the summer, represents a cost that is not always low and in most cases is necessary.
In fact, if the child attends the summer center for the whole day, he/she must also bear the burden of lunch and outings (very often children are taken to theme parks, to the swimming pool or to the seaside to allow different activities during the week).
Summer camps have now become the only alternative to babysitting for working parents who cannot organize shifts to be present, at least one at a time, on their children's summer days.
Many families, precisely because supporting the economic burden of attending for at least two months of the year is no joke, wonder whether the expenses incurred for summer camps can be deducted in the tax return.
This is a legitimate question given that it would fall within a sort of "after school" service, in the sense that it is a service that, during the summer, would take the place of school.
The answer, however, is that these costs, being considered "accessory", cannot be deducted even if there is a very specific case that allows the Irpef discount of at least part of the expenditure incurred.
Summer centers are multifaceted.
The summer center, being a need that concerns an ever-increasing number of families with school-age children, is now very widespread in the summer.
Playrooms, sports halls, closed schools and sports centers organize dozens of them to welcome all those children whose parents work and are waiting for the much-needed holidays.
It is, therefore, a service that allows children to have fun and do the most diverse activities (which change, in fact, from one summer center to another) and which usually cover hours ranging from morning to late afternoon, even if the family can also choose a reduced timetable only for the morning.
From working with salt dough to papier-mâché, from trips to the seaside to those in theme parks, trips out of town, group games, outdoor activities and free time in which children are free to play whatever they like best.
In most cases the times of the day in the summer center are marked by well-defined activities.
read also Deductions 730/2024: the complete list of expenses that can be downloaded The deduction for summer centers depends on the activity.
If you choose a summer center in a playroom, in a closed school, in a private place equipped for the purpose, the expenses incurred for children's attendance are not deductible.
More and more often, however, those who organize summer centers for children are also amateur sports associations or sports centers which during the summer suspend some of the activities intended specifically for the little ones (again lessons, dance courses, judo courses, in fact, go on holiday just like school).
If a sports center as described above organizes the summer camp, the deduction may be possible.
The important thing is that the main activities that the child carries out while attending the summer center are linked to sport: in this case the expense is deductible, but not as a summer center, but as a sports expense.
The receipt that is issued must specify that it is a "summer sports center" or that the main activity carried out during attendance is sports.
In this way the expense can be deducted in the 730 model but always respecting the maximum ceiling established for each child's sports expenses, i.e.
210 euros per year.
Certainly this ceiling does not allow you to deduct everything you spend in the summer for children who attend summer camps, but it allows you to have a reimbursement of 39.90 euros on the expense incurred.
Pay attention to the sports expenses of the year.
The summer camp, therefore, is deductible if it is sports.
Here we need to make a clarification: if during the tax year the threshold of 210 euros has already been reached for that child with the sporting activity carried out during the year, the summer sports center is added to the latter and everything exceeds 210 euros per year "exits" the deduction and is no longer eligible.
Precisely for this reason it is necessary to do the math first when choosing the type of summer center for your child to attend, since the one organized in a play center or in a closed school is certainly less expensive than one organized by a sports centre.
In any case, when choosing, you must also take into account the variety of activities offered to the child and those he prefers.
If you have already reached the threshold of 210 euros during the year with sporting activity, it makes no difference which summer center you choose.
But if you still have part of that threshold available and you want to take advantage of the deduction, then perhaps it is appropriate to choose a summer center at an amateur sports association or at a sports center to benefit from the deduction also on the expenses incurred in summer with schools on holiday.
read also Sports and gym expense deductions 730/2023, also for adults?