Is tax credit available for lessons by Skype?
I am an English teacher and usually work one-to-one at my students’ homes. However, I have been giving lessons over Skype only during the home confinement period. Will the families be able to claim their usual tax credit for these online lessons?
Yes, as part of the measures to face up to the Covid-19 epidemic, and ensure children’s education can continue despite school closures until at least May 11, it has been agreed that lessons at a distance can benefit from the usual tax credit for services à la personne.
It is true, though, that under normal circumstances such services must be carried out in the person’s home if the costs are to be eligible for the credit.
Some services carried out in other people’s homes have been allowed to carry on in person, notably related to childcare and assistance to the elderly, but where work can be done at a distance, as in the case of your lessons, this has been strongly encouraged.
As usual, the tax credit is equal to 50% of the amount paid by your clients, within a limit of €12,000 per calendar year (plus €1,500 per dependent child or €750 in the case of shared custody, within a maximum ceiling of €15,000).
To claim it, the client should make the usual declarations of the hours of work to the Cesu service if the families employ you directly. Otherwise, if you bill them for the work, they should insert the amounts in the 2042 RICI form when they make their tax return for 2020 income next year.
Apart from Skype, government advice on distance teaching suggests trying Messenger, gotomeeting.com, Adobe Connect, teamviewer.com, Microsoft Teams or Google Hangouts.
Other services that may help include Google’s G Suite, Slack, Discord, and Klaxoon. Meanwhile, you can share files via wetransfer.com, grosfichiers.com, Google Drive, or Free Download Manager
Email your tax questions to news@connexionfrance.com
