Child Benefit (Kindergeld)

Child benefit is paid regardless of the parents’ income. As of 1 January 2023, you will receive € 250 a month for each child.

If you are a low-income household and do not receive unemployment benefit II, or Arbeitslosengeld II, you may be eligible for child allowance, or Kinderzuschlag.

You are entitled to receive child benefit payments without restrictions until a child’s 18th birthday. You may submit your child benefit application as soon as your child is born. Once your child has turned 18, you may continue to receive child benefit payments until they turn 21 or 25 under certain conditions.

Under certain conditions, you may receive child benefit until your child turns 21 or 25.

You may receive child benefit payments until a child’s 21st birthday if your (adult) child is not employed and has registered as a jobseeker with a government employment agency (Agentur für Arbeit) in Germany or with a Jobcenter or other state employment agency in the EU, European Economic Area or Switzerland. You will continue to be entitled to child benefit if your child is in marginal employment (geringfügige Beschäftigung, such as a job paying €538 a month or less) and is registered as a jobseeker. You are not entitled to receive child benefit payments if your child receives unemployment benefit II.

You may receive child benefit payments until a child’s 25th birthday if your (adult) child meets the following criteria:

• they are being trained for an occupation, attending school or attending university;
• they are transitioning between forms of training or education (such as school and vocational training) and have no more than four months off;
• they are looking for an apprenticeship or vocational training position and can provide evidence of making a serious effort (such as through written rejection letters in response to applications);
• they have been accepted for an apprenticeship or vocational training position but cannot start until a later date (such as the start of a company’s training year);
• they are involved in a voluntary social year, voluntary ecological year or other volunteer activity as part of the European Solidarity Corps.

Once your child turns 25, you will receive child benefit payments only if your child has a physical, mental or psychological disability. Your child must be unable to cover their own essential living costs. The disability must have occurred and been documented before their 25th birthday.

You will not continue to receive child benefit payments if your adult child takes up employment with a detrimental effect on child benefit claims (anspruchsschädliche Erwerbstätigkeit). Your claim to child benefit payments ends if your child regularly works more than 20 hours a week after completing their first apprenticeship or vocational training programme or after earning their first university degree. Your claim to child benefit payments continues if your child is in marginal employment (such as a job paying €538 a month or less), works within the scope of an apprenticeship or vocational training programme or works only temporarily for more than 20 hours a week.

Only one person may receive child benefit payments. If your child lives in one household with both parents, you may determine which parent is the primary beneficiary and should receive the child benefit. This allows you to choose the parent who may have a higher entitlement to child benefit due to additional children.

For separated parents, the parent with whom the child spends most of its time will usually receive child benefit. Parents with joint custody must determine the primary beneficiary. Both are entitled to part of the child benefit and have the option of dividing the payment up among themselves. If the parents are unable to reach an agreement, a court may make the decision for them.

If the child does not live in the household of one of the parents, the parent who pays the highest child support will receive the child benefit.

The primary beneficiary should be stated when submitting the child benefit application to your local Family Benefits Office. The primary beneficiary determination will remain effective until it is revoked.

You can download the child benefit application or fill it out online here. The data and documents will then be transmitted digitally to the Family Benefits Office. Once you are done, print out the application, sign it and send it to the Family Benefits Office.

You must submit a written application for child benefit to your local Family Benefits Office using the child benefit application. You must fill out a separate detail form (Anlage Kind) for each child for which you want to request the benefit. On the form, state your child’s personal information.

If your child is under 18 years of age, you only need to state your tax identification number and your child’s tax identification number. If your child was born abroad, please submit the foreign birth certificate as well.

If your child is over 18 years of age, the Family Benefits Office will usually need additional proof that your child is in training, working or attending school, such as evidence that:

• your child attends school or university (certificate from the school, certificate of enrolment);
• your child is in vocational training (copy of the training contract);
• your child is seeking employment or a training position (registration with the employment agency, copies of applications with rejection letters);
• your child is in an internship or work placement programme (copy of the internship contract);
• your child is doing volunteer service (certificate from the organisation);
• your child has a mental, physical or psychological disability (such as a disability pass or medical report).

Once you have submitted your application, the Family Benefits Office will decide whether you are entitled to child benefit. You will receive the decision in writing, along with everything you need to know about receiving child benefit payments. Processing may take four to six weeks.

By applying for child benefit, you agree to inform the Family Benefits Office of any changes that are relevant to your child benefit entitlement. Always contact the Family Benefits Office if:

• your address or bank details change;
• you and your child’s other parent separate permanently or get divorced;
• you or your child leave your current household;
• you take up employment in the public sector for a scheduled period of more than six months;
• another entitled recipient applies for child benefit through a public-sector employer;
• you or another entitled recipient take up employment abroad;
• a child or guardian is reported missing or dead.

When your child turns 18, you must also notify the Family Benefits Office if the child:

• changes, quits, finishes or interrupts their schooling, vocational training or studies;
• has completed their vocational training or studies and takes up employment;
• was previously seeking employment and has now started a form of schooling, vocational training, studies or employment;
• begins voluntary military service;
• is pregnant.

Doing so helps to ensure that you only receive payments to which you are legally entitled. You may also face fines or prosecution if you do not provide the necessary information, and you will have to pay back any benefits that you wrongly received. 

You can submit some changes online. For others, the Family Benefits Office may need your signature. In that case, you can print out the “Notification of Changes” form, sign it, and send it back. The Family Benefits Office will check regularly to see whether you are still entitled to child benefit.

Yes. Child benefit can be paid retroactively for a period of up to six months if you were already eligible for child benefit during that time but had not yet submitted a written application to receive payments, for example.
To apply retroactively, please inform the Family Benefits Office in your application that you would like to receive child benefit retroactively starting from a specific date.

You will receive a child benefit number, or Kindergeldnummer, from the Family Benefits Office. The last digit of your child benefit number (0 to 9) determines when the payment is transferred to your account every month. The payment dates change every year. You can look up the dates online or by phone (call free of charge within Germany on 0800 4 555533).

Yes. Even if you receive unemployment benefit II, you are still entitled to child benefit. Please keep in mind that the child benefit will count as income in this case. Like any support payment, it will be offset against your unemployment benefit II claim.

Normally, child benefit can only be paid to the parents or guardians. Even if your child no longer lives at home during their apprenticeship, vocational training programme or studies, you are still required to support them financially.

If a child lives on their own and no longer receives any financial support from their parents, they can apply for reallocation, or Abzweigung, of their child benefit at the Family Benefits Office.

The child bonus, or Kinder-Bonus, is a special payment introduced by the German federal government in 2020. It was an additional form of financial support that was paid to families, which faced particular hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, a child bonus of €150 was paid for every child that was entitled to child benefit in at least one month in 2021. The child bonus is paid automatically, and no application is needed. It is not counted as income and is not offset against social security benefits.