Debt-free summer camps

My husband and I both work at 100% and our two children go to school in the canton of Geneva. Their 13 weeks of holidays a year are sometimes difficult to manage. So I enrol them in various activities and sometimes camps so that they can do something constructive during these periods, but this year it represents a substantial budget. Will I be able to deduct these costs from my tax?

Anne, Lancy

Good news for parents juggling work schedules and school holidays: children's camp fees can now, in certain circumstances, also reduce the tax bill.

The Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (LIFD) and the Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxation of the Cantons and Municipalities, which have been given concrete form in Geneva by the Act on the Taxation of Individuals (LIPP), allow parents to deduct the actual costs of looking after their children under the age of 14 if these expenses are necessary to enable them to work. For a long time, however, holiday camps were viewed with some suspicion by the tax authorities. Between a sailing course, a treasure hunt or a DIY workshop, it was tempting to see them primarily as a leisure activity rather than a childcare solution.

A recent ruling by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has changed all that. In a case from Geneva, our High Court recognised that a holiday camp can perfectly well fulfil a childcare function when the parents work and need to look after their children during the school holidays. The fact that the children learn English, discover nature or come back covered in paint but delighted with their day does not change anything.

However, not everything is permitted. Parents must be able to show that they were actually working during the period in question and that the camp met a genuine need for childcare. The child must also be under the age of 14.

In other good news, the cantonal tax authorities have announced that they will apply this ruling to tax returns that have not yet been processed. The deduction is no longer limited to a simple lump sum of CHF 250 per week, but falls within the ordinary legal ceilings for childcare costs set out in the LIFD and LIPP.

In your case, since you state that you and your husband work full-time, holiday camps are precisely the type of solution covered by this change in the law. You should therefore keep your invoices and proof of payment, as well as any evidence of your professional activity during this period, so that you can claim the corresponding deduction on your next tax return.

Read Pascal Rytz's columns on Tribune de Genève