Spouse Tax Credit 2026: Conditions, the 68,000 Kč Limit and How to Claim It
The tax credit for a dependent spouse is one of the most generous tax reliefs available, but also one of the most strictly conditioned. Since 2024, it is no longer enough for your partner to have no income of their own. The consolidation package added another condition: caring for a child under 3. Anyone who doesn't check the rules carefully either loses out on the credit unnecessarily, or claims it wrongly and risks an additional tax assessment.
This article covers the complete conditions for the spouse tax credit that apply for the 2025 tax period (return filed in 2026) as well as for 2026, including the exact own-income threshold, an overview of what counts towards the limit and what doesn't, and the procedure for claiming the credit correctly.
TL;DR: Spouse tax credit at a glance
The credit amounts to 24,840 Kč per year (double, 49,680 Kč, for a ZTP/P spouse). You're entitled to it if your partner lives with you in a jointly managed household, their own income for the year did not exceed 68,000 Kč, and, since 2024, they also care for a child under 3. Parental allowance does not count towards the limit, maternity benefit does. The credit is claimed once a year in the tax return.
How much is the spouse tax credit worth in 2026?
The amount of the credit is set out in Section 35ba(1)(b) of Act No. 586/1992 Sb., on Income Taxes. The basic amount is 24,840 Kč per tax period. If the dependent spouse holds a ZTP/P disability card, the credit doubles to 49,680 Kč per year.
📊Spouse tax credit amounts 2026
This is a tax credit, not a deduction from the tax base, so it directly reduces the calculated tax. Unlike the child tax credit, however, the spouse tax credit cannot generate a tax bonus. You can use it to reduce your tax to zero at most. If your calculated tax is lower than 24,840 Kč, the unused portion of the credit is neither paid out nor carried forward to the following year.
Who counts as a spouse?
The credit can be claimed for a spouse living with the taxpayer in a jointly managed household. The law applies the credit exclusively to a person you have married, or to a registered partner. It cannot be claimed for a cohabiting partner without marriage or a registered partnership, no matter how many years the couple has lived together and shared expenses.
Under Section 21e(4) ZDP, a jointly managed household is a community of people who live together permanently and jointly cover the costs of their needs. It does not necessarily require the same registered permanent address - what matters is the actual state of affairs.
New condition since 2024: caring for a child under 3
The most significant change came from the consolidation package (Act No. 349/2023 Sb.), which tightened the conditions for claiming the credit starting in 2024. It is now required that the dependent spouse cares, within the jointly managed household, for a child who has not yet turned 3 years old.
Why this change significantly narrowed the pool of eligible taxpayers
Until the end of 2023, it was enough for the partner to have no income above the limit. This meant the credit could be claimed by couples where one spouse was, for example, long-term unemployed, studying, or managing the household without young children. Since 2024, that option has disappeared. Without care for a child under 3, a healthy partner has no entitlement to the credit.
The condition of caring for a child under 3 does not need to be met only where the spouse holds a ZTP/P disability card. For a ZTP/P spouse, only the own-income limit remains decisive.
In practice, this means that in the year a child turns 3, you can only claim the credit for the months at the start of which the condition of caring for a child under 3 was met. The credit is applied on a monthly basis: for each calendar month at the start of which the conditions were met, one-twelfth of the annual amount is due, i.e. 2,070 Kč.
Own-income limit: 68,000 Kč per year
The second key condition is that the spouse must not have own income exceeding 68,000 Kč for the tax period. This threshold matters for several reasons:
- What is assessed is gross income, not net income after deducting expenses or tax.
- The limit is absolute - the credit is not reduced proportionally. If the partner earns 68,001 Kč, entitlement to the entire credit is lost.
- Income for the whole calendar year counts towards the limit, even if the marriage lasted only part of the year.
The most common mistakes arise precisely when assessing which income counts towards the limit. Many benefits don't count towards the limit, while others do, and the difference between maternity benefit and parental allowance is a frequent source of error.
What counts towards a spouse's own income and what doesn't
The table below gives an overview. The decisive criterion is the nature of the income: sickness insurance benefits generally count, while state social support benefits generally do not.
📊Spouse's own income for the 68,000 Kč limit
The most common mistake: maternity benefit versus parental allowance
Maternity benefit (peněžitá pomoc v mateřství) is a sickness insurance benefit and counts towards the 68,000 Kč limit. Parental allowance, by contrast, is a state social support benefit and does not count towards the limit. For women who were on maternity benefit for part of the year, that benefit alone can exceed the limit. It pays to work this out before claiming the credit.
The basis for this distinction is Section 35bb ZDP, which expressly lists the types of income that are not included in the other spouse's own income (state social support benefits, foster care benefits except for the foster carer's remuneration, benefits for people with disabilities, material need benefits, scholarships during preparation for a future occupation, and others).
Example: when the entitlement arises and when it doesn't
Example 1: Spouse on parental leave with a one-year-old child
The spouse received parental allowance for the whole year and cared for a two-year-old child. She had no other income. Parental allowance does not count towards the limit, so her own income is 0 Kč. The condition of caring for a child under 3 is met. The husband claims the full credit of 24,840 Kč, reducing his tax by the same amount.
Example 2: Spouse received maternity benefit for part of the year
The spouse received maternity benefit until April and parental allowance from May, with the child being six months old. Maternity benefit for January to April amounted to 82,000 Kč. Maternity benefit counts towards the limit, so it exceeded the 68,000 Kč threshold. No entitlement to the credit arises for 2025, even though the condition of caring for a child under 3 was met.
Example 3: Spouse has no income but no young child
The spouse has been unemployed for a year and manages the household; the children are 8 and 11 years old. Her own income is zero. The income limit is met, but since 2024 the condition of caring for a child under 3 is missing. No entitlement to the credit arises. Had the spouse held a ZTP/P disability card, the credit of 49,680 Kč could have been claimed.
Watch out for flat-rate expenses if you are self-employed (OSVČ)
If you are self-employed and apply flat-rate (percentage) expenses, the restriction under Section 35ca ZDP applies to you. If the sum of the partial tax bases for which you applied flat-rate expenses exceeds 50% of the total tax base, you lose entitlement to the spouse tax credit as well as to the child tax credit.
Flat-rate expenses can block the credit
A sole trader whose income comes only from business activity and who applies flat-rate expenses will therefore often not be entitled to the spouse tax credit at all. The solution is to compare whether switching to actual expenses is worthwhile, since this restriction does not apply there. The difference in overall tax can be significantly greater than the administrative burden of keeping tax records.
How to claim the spouse tax credit
The credit cannot be claimed monthly, unlike, for example, the basic taxpayer credit. It is claimed once a year, either in the tax return or in the annual tax reconciliation done by an employer.
📋Procedure for claiming the spouse tax credit
The 2025 tax return form and accompanying instructions are available on the Financial Administration's portal. Filing electronically through the MOJE daně portal also guides you through each field and flags formal errors.
When to have documentation ready
The tax office generally does not require documents to be submitted with the return itself, but you must be able to produce them if audited. Keep your partner's sworn statement about their income, a copy of the ZTP/P card if applicable, and, where relevant, proof of caring for the child (birth certificate). The period for an additional tax assessment is generally 3 years.
Summary
The tax credit for a dependent spouse, worth 24,840 Kč (49,680 Kč for ZTP/P), is only available if three conditions are met at the same time: a jointly managed household, the partner's own income under 68,000 Kč per year, and, since 2024, caring for a child under 3. The key is correctly assessing which benefits count towards the income limit - maternity benefit does, parental allowance doesn't. Self-employed people using flat-rate expenses often also run into the restriction under Section 35ca and cannot claim the credit.
The information in this article is based on Act No. 586/1992 Sb., on Income Taxes (Sections 35ba, 35bb, 35ca), as amended by the consolidation package (Act No. 349/2023 Sb.), and on the Financial Administration's methodology applicable for the 2025 and 2026 tax periods.
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