Healthcare cost deduction informal care: what can you deduct?

Healthcare costs can sometimes affect your taxes. If you care for a loved one, it can help to know which costs count. The rules are strict, so it is good to first look at what exactly you want to deduct and for whom the costs are.

Which healthcare costs may you deduct?

You may deduct some healthcare costs in your tax return. This is called the deduction of specific healthcare costs. It concerns necessary costs that you pay yourself and that nobody else reimburses.

Travel expenses can sometimes also count. Are you traveling for a treatment? Then the associated travel expenses are deductible. Do you regularly visit a loved one who is staying in hospital for more than a month, and do you live more than 10 kilometers away? Then you can deduct those travel expenses for hospital visits under certain conditions.

Informal care sometimes also costs money for travel, parking, meals, or aids. Not all of those costs are automatically deductible. It depends on the tax rules. There is also a threshold. Only above a certain amount does it provide a tax deduction.

What conditions apply?

Only necessary costs count. You have to pay the costs yourself. Nobody else may reimburse them.

Costs that fall under your own deductible may not be deducted. The deductible applies to care under the basic health insurance. It also applies only to the basic insurance, not to supplementary insurance. Not everything counts toward the deductible. A visit to the GP, for example, is excluded, as are midwifery care and care for children under 18.

For travel expenses to a loved one, an additional condition applies. Your loved one must be in hospital for more than a month. And you must live more than 10 kilometers from that hospital.

What should you keep as proof?

Keep your receipts carefully. Also keep track of appointments and travel expenses. Write down why you are making the costs.

That helps with your tax return. It is also useful if you later want to check whether an amount is correct. Is something not right on a bill? Ask the health insurer of your loved one.

Informal care can bring extra costs. Think of travel, parking, meals, or aids. Fiscal rules apply to some of those costs. That is why it is wise to keep everything carefully.

How does the deductible and reimbursement work?

Does your loved one receive care under the basic insurance? Then the compulsory deductible usually applies. That is the amount your loved one must first pay before the health insurer reimburses the costs. In 2026, this is 385 euros per year.

For medicines, examinations, or a hospital admission, your loved one first pays the deductible. Costs that fall under this may not be deducted from tax. A visit to the GP is not included.

Sometimes a supplementary health insurance reimburses something. Sometimes the municipality has a scheme for travel expenses, parking, or special assistance. There is no national scheme that pays all informal care costs. A possibility is therefore not a guarantee of reimbursement.

What do you do next?

1. First check whether the costs meet the conditions. It concerns necessary costs that you pay yourself.
2. Check whether nobody else has already reimbursed the costs.
3. Keep receipts, appointments, and other proof.
4. Check the conditions or ask for help with your tax return.
5. Ask your municipality about the current local conditions.
6. Check the policy with the health insurer of you or your loved one before you book or buy anything.

If you want to know what is possible near you, Mantelzorg Zoetermeer can help. They know the schemes and can help you get started.