Tax and education: from transport to school meals, all your children’s expenses to be declared on the 730 form
Spending limit of one thousand euros. Services managed by local authorities and local bodies may not already be included in the pre-filled tax return and must be entered by those entitled to them
Key points
For those who have not yet submitted their 2026 tax return (tax year 2025), the summer is also a good time to carry out final checks before submission. The new maximum expenditure limit of €1,000 per child is introduced in the 730 form (to be submitted by 30 September) and the Redditi form (this year’s deadline is 2 November, as 31 October falls on a Saturday and 1 November is a Sunday). Given that the deduction rate is 19 per cent, the maximum deductible amount is 190 euros per child. Using the Italian Revenue Agency’s FAQs on the pre-filled tax return, let’s take a look at which expenses are already included in the Form 730 prepared by the tax authorities and which, if any, need to be added.
School canteens, school buses, and before- and after-school care run by local councils
As one of the FAQs explains, ‘school canteen services, school transport and other before- and after-school services are often managed by local authorities or other local bodies, which, if they do not fall within the remit of entities belonging to the national education system, or when they do not directly manage municipal schools but only manage certain services for third-party schools, are not required to submit data on school expenses for the purposes of the pre-filled tax return’. What is the consequence? In such cases, data relating to these services may not be included in the pre-filled return. At this stage, taxpayers who are eligible for the deduction may ‘include these expenses in their tax return amongst the deductible items’ by supplementing the pre-filled 730 form. It should be noted, however, that, as this constitutes an amendment, the tax authorities may still carry out formal checks on the expenses entered directly by the taxpayer.
School fees entered
Another FAQ from the Italian Revenue Agency explains that the pre-filled tax return includes data provided by educational institutions relating to: school fees, compulsory and voluntary contributions, and donations approved by the educational institutions or their governing bodies and incurred in connection with school attendance (for example, for school meals and supplementary school services, school trips, school insurance and any other school contributions aimed at expanding the educational provision, as approved by the school’s governing bodies)
The pre-filled tax return contains, in any case, information relating to school fees for enrolment, attendance, sitting examinations and the awarding of diplomas, paid using the F24 payment form. As the FAQ points out, this is ‘information that is already held by the Revenue Agency and is therefore not submitted by educational institutions’.
‘The information sheet also includes, – the FAQ continues – attached to the pre-filled tax return also include charitable donations made to educational institutions of all levels, not authorised by the schools’ governing bodies and intended for technological innovation, school and university building projects, and the expansion of educational provision.” The fact that they are listed only on the information sheet means that the taxpayer must amend the pre-filled tax return in order to include them.
