Deduct sperm donations from the tax

In future, artificial insemination will be tax deductible

21/02/2011

Sperm donations are tax deductible as artificial insemination measures. This reports the news magazine „The mirror“ with reference to a recent judgment of the Bundesfinanzhof. The costs of artificial insemination can be deducted from married couples in the future. This also applies to semen donations, in which the sperm come from a seed bank, the reporting in the „mirror“.

Couple paid over 21,000 euros for artificial insemination
According to the News magazine, the Federal Finance Court ruled in its recent ruling on the claim of a couple who had paid 21,345 euros for artificial insemination (in vitro fertilization) and claimed the costs of the tax return as an exceptional burden. The husband was incapacitated because of an illness, so that the plaintiffs decided for a fertilization of the wife with foreign seeds. When they wanted to claim the corresponding costs in the context of their tax return, the responsible tax office had rejected this, as an artificial insemination according to previous legal situation was not used to cure or alleviate an illness.

Artificial insemination deductible as a medical measure
The Federal Finance Court has loud „mirror“-Reporting now granted the lawsuit of the couple and assessed the artificial insemination as a medical measure, since it replaced a disabled body function of the husband. Accordingly, sperm donations from third-party donors will be deductible from the tax in the future. Thus, the legal treatment method since 1986 in Germany, the sperm donation for artificial insemination, henceforth not to be borne by the parent with a desire to have children alone, but the state participates in a corresponding estate in the tax. (Fp)

Picture credits: HHS