Treatment of initial training costs is constitutional

The Federal Constitutional Court has no objections to the deduction limits for the costs of initial vocational training or studies.

Expenses for initial vocational training or for a first degree course cannot be claimed as income-related expenses. Training costs are only deductible as special expenses, but unlike income-related expenses, they cannot be carried forward to later years. In addition, the special expenses deduction is limited to 6,000 euros per year. The Federal Constitutional Court is convinced that these restrictions on tax deductibility do not violate the Basic Law.

The Federal Fiscal Court had submitted the complaints of several professional pilots with particularly costly initial training to the Constitutional Court for a preliminary ruling. For the constitutional judges, however, it is clear that there are objectively plausible reasons for the regulation: Initial training or studies immediately after leaving school not only imparts professional knowledge, but also shapes the person in a broader sense by offering the opportunity to develop according to one's talents and abilities and to acquire general competencies that are not necessarily required for a future specific profession. It shows a special proximity to the development of personality. The legislator was therefore allowed to qualify such expenses as at least privately co-initiated and to allocate them to special expenses.