Relief package: how the relief affects you

Enlarge image

Three-phase meter: It is not yet clear how much energy households should receive at reduced basic consumption

Photo: Uli Deck / dpa

The chancellor had promised a "heavy package."

And now the time has come: 65 billion euros are to be relieved from the burden on citizens.

That would be around 780 euros per head.

And not only poorer households should benefit.

A family with an annual income of EUR 66,000 will also be relieved of EUR 1,000, Finance Minister Christian Lindner tweeted.

So let's take a closer look at how all that money is supposed to get to you.

And if and how quickly that works.

Some things will come in the fall

The

who were left out in the second relief program are now to receive a one-time payment of 300 euros more gross.

Only five of the more than 20 million pensioners pay taxes on their pension today.

So most retirees get their money gross for net.

That should happen in December.

The pension funds are intended to prevent seniors who draw multiple pensions from also receiving multiple one-off payments.

It becomes more complicated with the officials.

As pensioners, they are entitled to such a payment, but at the same time many also receive a small statutory pension from previous employment.

The federal and state governments still have to clarify how double payments can be prevented here.

It is also still unclear whether and how pension funds will screen out the pensioners who received the energy money in September because of a job in old age.

It will probably not be possible to prevent double payments here.

Above all, however, the concrete plan for the payments is still missing, which the experts in the Ministry of Labor are currently working on, Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil told me on Thursday.

Then it has to be voted on by the government.

should receive 200 euros a month

.

Even those who have already received a heating subsidy for BAföG.

At least that's how the Secretary General of the German Student Union, Matthias Anbuhl, interprets the government paper.

Anything else causes »in practice only huge bureaucracy and administrative effort«.

Students are currently suffering particularly from sharply rising rents and energy costs.

There should also be a lot of money for

recipients.

This fall, they are to receive a further heating subsidy II as a single 415 euros, as a couple 540 and as a family of four even 740 euros.

Here, cities and communities know exactly who has received housing benefit so far.

If you are already receiving housing benefit, you do not have to do anything else.

However, today less than half of those entitled actually claim housing benefit.

Many hundreds of thousands would have to finally submit an application.

A number of municipalities are already struggling to "process the high number of applications," as the traffic light's discharge paper puts it.

That is why the government is planning “unbureaucratic advance payments”.

more on the subject

Third relief package: That's the force - isn't it? An analysis by David Böcking

If you think that you are entitled to housing benefit, you should not waste any time.

Because the challenge for the municipalities is likely to be even greater.

The criteria for housing benefit are to be lowered in 2023 so that two million households will be able to receive housing benefit in the future, according to the traffic light.

So far, only 700,000 households have received the money.

As before, you do not have to be a tenant to receive housing benefit.

Households with home ownership can also apply for help if they have little income.

In official German, that means something different, namely »Lastenzuschuss« instead of »Wohngeld«.

Reduce energy costs

With the cost of gas, which affects half of the population and worries many households, the traffic light package does not provide for any new, immediately effective steps.

Gas surcharge and VAT reduction had already been decided.

For gas customers with new, high prices of over 20 cents per kilowatt hour, the reduction in VAT from 19 to 7 percent practically eliminates the inflationary effect of the gas levy.

The coalition spends a lot of time trying to reduce household electricity bills directly.

The particularly high profits that power companies are making because of the energy crisis are to be skimmed off.

Above a price level set by the state, the income of the corporations should end up in a central pot - so the idea - from which the electricity prices of the customers should then be subsidized for a cheaper basic electricity supply.

The EU Commission is also in favor of a price cap of 20 cents per kWh for nuclear power and renewable energies.

is the concept.

How much electricity households and small businesses should get cheaper, whether by square meter, per capita or previous consumption, was not yet known by the responsible Federal Ministry of Economics this week.

more on the subject

Relief with electricity: The pitfalls of the price cap An analysis by Gerald Traufetter

If the price of electricity in this country were to rise to 40 cents per kWh and the first 3000 kWh would be sold for 20 cents, this could mean savings of 600 euros a year for a four-person household.

But first the project should be discussed at the weekend in the EU.

money from the boss

According to the plans of the traffic light, the employers could hand out money not directly from the state, but a lot for it.

up to 3,000 euros in additional income free of taxes and duties

if they want to.

Such programs already existed during the corona crisis.

So talk to your employer, especially if they are doing well financially.

Cold progression and the new citizens' income

Other payments from the package will not reach us citizens until 2023 at the earliest.

Many of the items were discussed for the first time this week as part of the deliberations on the annual tax law in the Bundestag.

It's about the FDP tax plans to abolish cold progression, which

should bring more money into the pockets of practically all

According to the economist Achim Truger, the program would cost 15 billion euros, but half would go to the 20 percent higher earners.

Recipients of Hartz IV should only receive more money in January.

Then the whole thing should be called “

income” and be 50 euros a month higher than before, i.e. 500 euros for a single person instead of 449 euros for living expenses without warm rent.

This is paid for by the office.

In the future, this basic income should increase automatically with inflation.

Citizens' allowance recipients do not receive housing benefit because the rent is paid in full.

If the apartment is too big or the rent is too high, the authorities repeatedly demand that the Hartz IV recipient should move out.

In January,

for the first three children is to be increased by EUR 18 per child, or EUR 237 per child.

Poorer families who do not receive unemployment benefit II or future citizenship benefit, but perhaps housing benefit, should receive a higher child allowance from 2023, up to 250 euros per month per child instead of the previous 229 euros.

However, you must apply for the child allowance, which does not come automatically.

And those who already receive Hartz IV or future citizenship payments cannot apply for a child allowance.

In the future, too, the child benefit will be taken into account for recipients of citizenship benefit.

More child benefit then means less citizen benefit and, in case of doubt, no more money in your pocket.

more on the subject

Responses to the relief package: »Sometimes with the watering can on the way«

The government finally wants to

launch the successor to the

The digitally bookable ticket should cost 49 or maybe 69 euros every month as a subscription and be valid nationwide.

That's still significantly more than the transport budget of a Hartz IV recipient, so they won't be able to afford it.

has been planned for a long time, demanded by the constitutional court and now included in the billion-euro package

 .

From 2023, up to a limit of around 25,000 euros, every euro that I pay into the pension scheme should be tax-deductible.

So I can pay that much entirely from my gross income.

For most employees, their own payments into the pension fund and those of their employer make up the lion's share of the 25,000 euros.

If you want to know where you stand and how much you can still pay in tax-free in 2023, look at your salary statement.

The change is expected to cost the state 3.2 billion euros in the coming year.

Last but not least.

, i.e. employees who only earn up to 2000 euros gross per month, should in future have to pay significantly less for their pension and health insurance without suffering any disadvantages as a result.

This is logical, but not good for the social security funds.

Many workers on the minimum wage will fall into this income category in the future as a result of the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros.

If you think about it now, some things are still unclear and some things he didn't even mention.

Right.

The second momentum will come in a few weeks, when hopefully a lot will have become clearer.

I'll stay tuned for you.