The Supreme Court allows the simultaneous application of the minimum for dependents and alimony in income tax. The estimated savings are around €900 per year in a specific case.
A parent with shared custody who pays alimony can reduce their income tax liability. This is stated, according to noticiastrabajo.es, in a ruling from the Supreme Court that permits combining the minimum for dependents with the special treatment of alimony, two benefits that the Tax Agency considered incompatible.
The ruling 1054/2026, of September 23, established this criterion, and the Chamber repeated it later in resolutions 1094/2026, 1106/2026, and 1107/2026, published on October 15. With several rulings in the same vein, the criterion can now be considered case law, which courts and the AEAT must apply.
Until now, the Tax Agency understood that with shared custody, only half of the minimum per child was applied and that the alimony did not count in that calculation. The Central Economic Administrative Court endorsed that criterion in 2023, and since then, the AEAT has regularised taxpayers who applied both benefits.
The case resolved by the Supreme Court involved a father from Alicante who paid €200 per month in alimony to his daughter, with shared custody on alternate weeks. In 2017, the Tax Agency claimed €1,000 from him in income tax. The TSJ of the Valencian Community declared that claim null and the Supreme Court upheld his position by resolving the appeal from the State Attorney's Office. Other appeals from taxpayers in Madrid and Valencia have reached the same conclusion.
According to the Chamber, the child lives with each parent for part of the year. The minimum for dependents covers the time of cohabitation and the alimony covers the time of separation, so both benefits do not overlap and are applied successively rather than simultaneously. The Supreme Court stated:
“Both regimes do not overlap and are applied successively. Otherwise, it creates an inequality of treatment arising from living with the minor.”
The ruling had two dissenting votes: two of the seven judges voted in favour of the criterion previously applied by the Tax Agency.
According to calculations by TaxDown, a person with a €35,000 taxable base who pays €400 per month for a child in shared custody would have a tax liability of €6,480 under the Supreme Court's criterion, compared to €7,380 under the Tax Agency's. The difference is €900 per year. With an alimony of €200 per month, the savings are around €640, and the figures vary by autonomous community.
TaxDown experts recommend reviewing declarations from 2022 and requesting refunds before they expire.
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