Tax relief on private school fees in Europe, country by country

Families often assume that private school fees attract some form of tax relief. In Europe the reality is mixed. A few countries offer a deduction or credit, many offer nothing specific for school fees, and the United Kingdom has recently moved in the opposite direction by adding VAT. This guide sets out what we have been able to verify from official sources, and is explicit about what we have not.

It is general information, not tax advice. Rules change and depend on your residence, your income and the school's status, so confirm the position with an adviser in the country where you pay tax.

The short version

Country	Relief on private school fees	Verified from
Germany	Yes: 30% of fees, up to €5,000 a year, as special expenses	Income Tax Act, s.10(1) no. 9
France	Small flat reduction per child, not a share of fees	Service-Public
United Kingdom	No relief; VAT at 20% on fees from 1 January 2025	HMRC
Italy	Relief mentioned for paritaria families; details not verified here	Eurydice (general mention only)
Spain	None found in the sources consulted	Eurydice funding page
Switzerland	None found in the sources consulted	Eurydice funding page
Netherlands	None found in the sources consulted	Eurydice funding page
Belgium	None found in the sources consulted	Eurydice funding page

"None found" is not the same as "none exists". It means that the official sources we checked do not describe a relief. Regional, municipal or cantonal measures may exist, particularly in federal countries.

Germany

Germany offers the most generous relief we could verify. Under section 10(1) no. 9 of the Income Tax Act (EStG), a taxpayer may deduct 30% of the school fee, up to a maximum of €5,000 a year, as special expenses (Sonderausgaben). To reach the cap, eligible fees would need to be about €16,667 a year per child.

The conditions set out in the statute include the following.

You must be entitled to the child allowance or child benefit for the child.
The school must be run by a private body, or be predominantly privately financed.
The school must be in an EU or EEA state and lead to a recognised general or vocational qualification. German schools abroad qualify wherever they are.
Fees for accommodation, care and meals are excluded. A boarding invoice must therefore be split so that only tuition counts.
The maximum is granted once per child and parent couple.

The deduction reduces taxable income, so the saving depends on your marginal tax rate. Note that it can apply to a school elsewhere in the EU or EEA, which can matter for a family living in Germany and sending a child to school across the border. It is available only if you have a German tax liability.

France

France gives a modest reduction in income tax for children in education, rather than a share of the fees. According to Service-Public, for income year 2025 the reduction is €61 per child at collège, €153 at lycée and €183 in higher education, and half those amounts in shared-custody situations.

It applies to studies at a public or private establishment, in France or abroad, and requires a French tax domicile. The child must be dependent on you and enrolled at 31 December of the tax year. Because it is a flat amount, it is the same whether the school charges a little or a great deal.

United Kingdom

There is no tax relief for private school fees in the UK, and the main change since 2025 has been the opposite. HMRC's policy paper states that from 1 January 2025 education and boarding provided by private schools is subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%. Fees paid from 29 July 2024 for terms starting on or after 1 January 2025 are also in scope.

HMRC estimated that, because schools can reclaim some VAT on their own costs, the net VAT cost would be about 15% of fee income on average, with average fees rising by around 10%. The policy paper also stated that charitable private schools in England would lose business rates charitable relief from April 2025. Where a local authority funds a place because a child's Education, Health and Care Plan requires it, the authority can reclaim the VAT in England.

For a family, this means a higher price rather than a deduction, and it is worth asking schools how they have passed the cost on.

Italy

Eurydice states that paritaria schools receive indirect funding through grants to pupils and tax relief for families, and that primary and pre-primary paritaria schools also receive direct funding. The page does not give amounts, eligibility rules or caps. We have not verified the current detail from the tax authority's own pages, so we do not state a figure. If you plan to send a child to a school in Italy, ask the school and an Italian tax adviser what applies in your situation.

Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium

The Eurydice funding pages for Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Flemish Community do not mention a tax deduction for school fees. They do describe other ways in which the state reduces costs.

Spain. Publicly funded private schools (concertados) provide free education within funded stages, and families pay for extras such as books, meals and transport. In fully private schools, families pay the full cost of tuition.
Switzerland. Public compulsory schooling is free, and Eurydice notes that some cantons support private schools with public funds and that parents may receive contributions towards school fees in some cases. Cantonal tax rules differ, so check with the cantonal tax authority.
Netherlands. No tuition fees are charged for state-funded primary and secondary schools. Fully private education is paid for by third parties, including pupils, and costs are generally higher.
Belgium (Flanders). Subsidised private education serves 68% of pupils, so many families never face fee-charging schools.

None of this rules out a regional deduction or an allowance within the general tax system. It means only that the sources we consulted do not describe one.

If you are relocating

Three practical points follow.

Where you are resident matters more than where the school is. In Germany, the deduction is tied to your German tax liability, although the school can be elsewhere in the EU or EEA.
Get an itemised invoice. Where a relief excludes boarding, meals or care, the school must separate those from tuition. Ask for this at the start.
Check the school's status. Under the German rules, for example, the school must lead to a recognised qualification. A school's classification can decide whether you qualify.

A word of caution

Tax rules for school fees are among the more fragile areas of family tax planning, because they are often revised in budgets and because small drafting details decide eligibility. Treat the table above as a starting point for a conversation with an adviser, not as a conclusion.