The law in Croatia allows taxpayers to link not only children but also other close family members who have no income of their own or whose income is extremely low to their tax card. By doing so, the worker ensures an increase in their personal deduction and, consequently, receives a higher net salary payout.
For someone to be legally considered a dependent immediate family member, that person must meet strict tax definitions of kinship. This category includes:
There are local amount limits!
A person can be considered your dependent member only (and exclusively) if their annual taxable receipts, receipts on which no tax is paid, and all other receipts in the calendar year do not exceed the strict legal threshold.
Beware of the "hidden" calculation! Many workers register their unemployed spouses, not thinking about their honorariums, shares, dividends, payments for sick leave at the expense of state insurance (HZZO), or occasional earnings through a contract for work. If a spouse breaks that annual threshold of total income inflows by even a single cent, the worker completely loses the right to the personal deduction for that year, and the Tax Administration will later, upon the refund decision, demand payment of penal amounts of the tax deficit debt back into the budget! This is a common, painful, and expensive mistake.
For a dependent short family member (who by definition of law is not your child or is not disabled), a fixed introductory tax deduction coefficient of 0.70 is granted. This increases your basic base for calculating tax exemption from 560 EUR, additionally by an enormously generous 392.00 EUR!.
Ivan has a gross salary of 2,000 EUR and lives in an area where the tax rate is 15%. His wife Ana is currently unemployed without any annual income. Ivan goes to the Tax Administration (or uses the digital e-Građani system) and connects his wife Ana status-wise as a member to his Personal Deduction number 1 on the PK card.
An additional large monthly "shield" is calculated for him (the part of the salary on which he pays no tax). Multiplied by the 15% city tax of that rate, it leaves him a pure dry bonus – a significantly higher net salary every single month in his bank checking account based on the status relief.