Child allowance

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The child allowance (KiZ) according to Section 6a of the Federal Child Benefit Act was introduced on January 1, 2005 with the Fourth Act for Modern Services on the Labor Market ("Hartz IV") . It is a targeted promotion of low- income families with children . The aim is to save them from receiving unemployment benefit II (ALG II) with its disadvantageous consequences and at the same time to increase the work incentive for parents. The child allowance is part of Agenda 2010 as a supplementary measure of the “Hartz IV” law .

Statistics recipient total volume

Child allowance
year scope children households source
2005 € 103 million
2006 € 139 million 124,000 49,000
2007 € 109 million 100,000 36,000
2017 € 399 million 248,000 87,000

In 2005, 0.7% of all recipients of child benefit nationwide received a child allowance. In the two years immediately after its introduction (from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007) a total of 993,787 applications for child allowance were submitted, and 121,613 applications were approved. In 2005, 6.8 percent of all recipients of child benefit nationwide had applied for child allowance. Of this, 10.2 percent were approved.

According to the Family Benefits Office, the number of recipients of the family allowance was around 248,000 children in around 87,000 households (annual mean values 2018). The total expenditure in 2017 was € 399 million.

height

Child allowance
from to Child surcharge
per month
per child		 Melting rate Duration of entitlement
January 1, 2005 December 31, 2007 140 € 70% Max. 36 months
January 1, 2008 September 30, 2008 according to
child benefit
entitlement
October 1, 2008 50%
June 30, 2016
July 1, 2016 December 31, 2016 160 €
January 1, 2017 June 30, 2019 170 €
1st July 2019 December 31, 2019 185 €
January 1, 2020 45% - 50%

You receive the full children's allowance of 185 euros per child if your own income and the assets that can be used for subsistence correspond to the ALG II requirements (personal requirements plus actual costs of accommodation) for the adults in the community of need . Additional income from adult household members and children will be offset (by rounding down) to 45% of the maximum possible child allowance.

The sum of the calculated child allowance, the income to be taken into account, any housing allowance and / or assets that may be due must ensure the family's total needs so that there is no entitlement to ALG II or social allowance. If your income or assets are too low, you will be referred to ALG II.

Until the end of 2007, the child allowance was paid for a maximum of 36 months, regardless of the number of children. Since 2008, if the eligibility requirements are met, the surcharge has been paid until the end of the 25th year of age at the latest, but only for children over 18 years of age if there is an entitlement to child benefit and the child lives in the parental household.

The granting of child allowance requires entitlement to unemployment benefit II. If this does not exist, there is no entitlement to child allowance. This can be the case for foreigners or for trainees in an education that is eligible for funding.

The child allowance rose from 140 euros to 160 euros per child on July 1, 2016, to EUR 170 per child on January 1, 2017 and to EUR 185 per child on July 1, 2019.

Calculation example

This article or section needs to be revised: There is no longer a flat-rate fee for income-related expenses, so the calculation example is incorrect.
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

An unmarried couple in a marriage-like relationship lives with two underage children in a common household. The actual monthly rent is 800 euros. The father has gross earned income of 3,000 euros . Entitlement to child allowance would exist if the parents' monthly income corresponded to their needs within the meaning of the regulations on unemployment benefit II (minimum income limit) and at the same time would not be higher than the sum of their needs plus the total child allowance (maximum income limit).

In contrast to unemployment benefit II, the housing needs of the parents are not calculated using the header method, but rather derived from the current subsistence level report of the federal government; The ratio of the living costs of the parents 'accommodation to those of the children results in the parents' living requirements depending on the size of the family. However, for other residents of the apartment who do not belong to the community of need within the meaning of SGB II, their rent shares must still be deducted using the headboard method. This also means that children who do not belong to the parents' benefit community due to their own income, for example, cannot be considered as children in the child allowance and consequently do not increase the maximum income limit.

The actual costs are always used for the rental costs. The child allowance is not restricted to reasonable costs.

Calculation process (legal status 2018):

  • a) Basic requirement: 2 * 374 euros = 748 euros
  • b) Parents' living requirements (71.30% of the actual costs for accommodation / heating) = 570 euros rounded
  • c) Total needs of parents from sum a) and b) = assessment limit: 1,318 euros
  • d) plus total child surcharge (2 × 170 euros) = 340 euros
  • e) Sum of c) and d) = maximum income limit: 1,658 euros

The parental income to be compared must first be adjusted:

  • The father's net earned income = approx. 1,940 euros
  • Less tax exemption for gainful employment in accordance with Section 11 Paragraph 2 No. 6, Section 30 No. 1 SGB II = ./. 140 euros
  • Less tax exemption for gainful employment in accordance with Section 11 Paragraph 2 No. 6, Section 30 No. 2 Sentence 3 SGB II = ./. 70 euros
  • minus travel costs § 3 Paragraph 1 No. 3 b) last HS Alg II-V (for 5 km) = ./. 19 euros
  • minus private pension provision ( Riester pension ) = ./. 53 euros (minimum contribution)
  • minus private insurance maximum = ./. 30 euros (e.g. liability / occupational disability insurance)
  • Less private insurance for the children in the actual amount = ./. 60 euros (e.g. capital / pension insurance)
  • less contribution to motor vehicle liability insurance § 11 Paragraph 2 No. 3 SGB II = ./. 70 euros
  • Total income minus tax exemptions = adjusted income = 1,498 euros

The parental income to be taken into account thus exceeds the requirement in the sense of ALG II (minimum income limit), which from October 1, 2008 amounts to a flat rate of EUR 900 for couples and EUR 600 for single parents, but is below the maximum income limit of EUR 1,658. This means that you are initially entitled to child allowance. However, since the adjusted income exceeds the assessment threshold, the child allowance is reduced by 5 euros for every 10 euros of the rounded difference between adjusted income and the assessment threshold. There is therefore a reduction in the total child allowance of 85 euros.

Child allowance is therefore paid for the two children totaling 255 euros.

The above calculation does not yet take into account the wealth of the household members. The asset allowance is age-dependent and is z. B. for a thirty year old 7,000 euros. For each child there is an additional allowance of EUR 3,100 each. Any assets beyond this will be deducted from the total requirement calculated above. The maximum permitted limit per parent for people born after December 31, 1963 is EUR 10,050. If the assets to be taken into account (e.g. real estate and appropriate household items are not taken into account) exceed this amount, there is no entitlement to child allowance.

Jurisdiction

The family benefits office , which is usually located at the local employment agency , is responsible for granting the child allowance . You have to provide information about your own income and assets, such as B. to the job centers when applying for ALG II or the housing benefit offices when applying for rent subsidy. The need check is basically similar to ALG II, but is based on a different calculation scheme (see example above).

ALG II or child allowance

In the case of a family (marital status: married / civil partnership / consensual union) with three minor children who live in a common household, it must be checked whether top-up ALG II is still to be paid or whether there is a claim to child allowance. Entitlement exists if the sum of the creditable income, child benefit , child benefit supplement and (possibly) housing benefit is greater than the total requirement according to ALG II.

Calculation example

a) With a standard requirement of the parents of 720 euros, a standard requirement of the children of 234, 234 and 267 euros and the cost of accommodation of 700 euros, this results in a total ALG II requirement of 2155 euros.

b) The gross income achieved is 1500 euros, the net income for tax class three is 1210 euros. In the case of gross income from gainful employment, certain allowances must be deducted in accordance with Section 11b SGB II when determining the creditable income: The first 100 euros of the gross income are exempt from credit. For gross income between 100 and 1000 euros, there is an allowance of 20 percent (maximum 180 euros). For a gross income of 1000 to 1200 euros or up to 1500 euros for households with children, there is an additional tax exemption of 10 percent (maximum 50 euros). With gross earnings of 1500 euros, the total tax allowance is 330 euros. The net income minus the total tax allowance results in a creditable income of 880 euros. In the case of a couple with three children, the parents' share of living is 62.45% of the needs for accommodation / heating. The living share of the parents in this example is rounded to 437 euros. The living share and the parents' standard requirement of 720 euros together make up the so-called assessment limit. The creditable income of 880 euros is below the assessment limit of 1157 euros. Therefore, there is an entitlement to the maximum child supplement of 140 euros per child. The entire child allowance for three children from the responsible family benefits office is 420 euros. In addition, there is child benefit for three children of 558 euros. The expected housing benefit from the responsible housing benefit office is 320 euros for 5 people. The total of creditable income, child benefit, child allowance and housing benefit amounts to a total of 2178 euros. That is more than the ALG II total requirement of 2155 euros.

c) With child allowance and housing benefit, the need for assistance according to Section 9 SGB II is avoided, as the family's overall needs are met. There is therefore an entitlement to child allowance. Since the child allowance and housing benefit have priority over ALG II, these benefits must also be used instead of ALG II.

criticism

The specific design of the child allowance has been criticized from various sides. Due to the opaque regulations, it is difficult for potential beneficiaries, for example, to assess whether they are entitled to child allowance. This and the low level of awareness are held responsible for the fact that many eligible families do not apply.

In addition, the maximum income limit can result in a household experiencing a decrease in income as a result of a salary increase if the entitlement to child supplement is no longer applicable. In combination with the housing benefit (often drawn in parallel), there is also a high transfer withdrawal rate for child benefit recipients, which ensures that gross income increases are largely offset by lower transfer payments. From January 1, 2020, this will be partially mitigated by eliminating the maximum income limit and only 45 percent of the parents' income (instead of currently 50 percent) being offset against the child allowance.

Since the change in the law on July 1, 2019, the current income is no longer used to calculate the child allowance, but rather the average income of the last six months. Families in which one of the parents takes up a new job can, in extreme cases, be excluded from receiving the child allowance for six months. Conversely, a household does not automatically lose its entitlement to child allowance due to brief unemployment.

Related topics

  • Child pension - a pension based on the number of children.

Web links

Wiktionary: Child allowance  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katharina Wrohlich: Family and Education in Agenda 2010: Goals, Measures and Effects. (PDF; 123 kB) In: Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung Vol. 77 No. 1, pp. 90–97. DIW Berlin, 2008, accessed on August 21, 2009 . Sections 1 Measures and Objectives and Section 2.3 Child Allowance
  2. ↑ a b c d e BMFSFJ
  3. ↑ a b Federal Employment Agency, Family Benefits Office: Child benefit / child allowance, annual figures 2018. Accessed on November 19, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Some types of income are still deducted at 50%.
  5. ↑ BSG, December 15, 2010, AZ B 14 KG 1/09 R
  6. ↑ BSG, July 7, 2011, AZ B 14 KG 2/09 R
  7. ↑ BSG, March 9, 2016, AZ B 14 KG 1/15 R
  8. ↑ BSG, March 14, 2012, AZ B 14 KG 1/11 R
  9. ^ Robert Roßmann: High hurdles for child allowance. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. October 9, 2013, accessed November 23, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Kerstin Bruckmeier, Jannek Mühlhan, Andreas Peichl: Creating more work incentives for low-income families. Institute for Employment Research, January 24, 2018, accessed on November 23, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Art. 2 of the Strong Family Act of April 29, 2019 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 530, 532 )
  12. ↑ Abstruse change in the law - child allowance: law brings poor families out of hundreds of euros - WAZ