Particularly for elderly people, having a home emergency call system often provides a reassuring sense of security, as it ensures help can be obtained quickly in an emergency. In a case decided by the BFH in 2023, the question arose whether the costs of such a system also qualify for the tax reduction for household-related services. If so, under § 35a Abs. 2 EStG, 20% of the costs (up to a total of EUR 4,000 per year) could be deducted directly from the income tax liability.
In the BFH case, the emergency call system was connected to an off-site control centre that received the emergency calls. This was precisely where the BFH saw the problem regarding the tax benefit: under this arrangement, the service essentially consisted of the on-call availability and the receipt of any emergency call. However, this took place outside the home and therefore not within the household. For this reason, the BFH held that the requirements for a qualifying household-related service were not met.
Note
The situation is different, however, in the case of a home emergency call system in a senior residence where the emergency call is connected directly to the pager of a care worker. In such a case, the BFH had already ruled back in 2016 that the costs do indeed qualify as a household-related service eligible for the tax benefit.