Many don't know it: get more parental allowance with the "sibling bonus".
Created: 01/12/2023, 05:30
By: Anika Zuschke
The sibling bonus is available to families with several children who have also applied for parental allowance.
What conditions still need to be met.
Hamburg – Many parents in Germany do not want to send their children to a day care center immediately after birth and for this reason give up their jobs for a certain period of time.
In order to support families financially during this time, the government introduced what is known as parental allowance.
If there are small siblings after the first child, the payment can even be increased - this surcharge is called the "sibling bonus".
24hamburg.de explains who is entitled to the additional money and what requirements must be met as a consumer.
Transfer payment dependent on net income: | parental allowance |
Background: | Compensation for specific disadvantages in the early phase of starting a family |
To have a demand: | Parents who are not or not fully employed to look after a child or who interrupt their employment to look after their child |
Surcharge on parental allowance: | sibling bonus |
Supplement for additional children: When do you get the sibling bonus with parental allowance?
The sibling bonus does not stand out as an independent form of payment, but is only paid out in connection with the parental allowance.
The prerequisite for a claim to the money is therefore the receipt of basic parental allowance or parental allowance plus.
In addition, as the name of the supplement indicates, parents must have at least two children who also live in the applicant's household.
The age of the children also plays a decisive role in the sibling bonus.
These requirements must be met for the money to end up in the account:
At least one other child lives in the same household who is not yet 3 years old or
At least two other children live in the same household, both of whom are not yet 6 years old or
At least one other child with disabilities lives in the same household who is not yet 14 years old.
(The prerequisite is a degree of disability (GDB) of at least 20 percent, which must be proven.) Incidentally, children with disabilities also receive child benefit for longer - it depends on the year of birth.
Adopted children and twins: Which children receive the sibling bonus with parental allowance?
According to
Familienportal.de
, in the case of adopted children, the day on which the child was taken into the family household is of great relevance.
This also applies if the adoption process has not yet been completed, i.e. in the case of a so-called “child in foster care”.
However, when the adopted child turns 14, the entitlement to the sibling bonus expires.
This can also be granted for a non-biological child of the spouse or life partner, but a registered partnership is required for this.
If the couple is not married, the partner's child is not entitled to the supplement - even if it lives in the same household.
However, there is no sibling bonus for multiples (i.e. twins, triplets, etc.), since multiples are counted as one child when calculating the surcharge.
The sibling bonus is an addition to the parental allowance – but when do you get the subsidy?
(24hamburg.de assembly) © Westend61/MiS/Imago
How is the sibling bonus calculated – and how long is the supplement paid?
If these requirements are met, the income-related parental benefit – where you can clear more money by changing the tax class – is increased by 10 percent.
This supplement forms the sibling bonus.
The exact amount depends on the family's income, but recipients of the supplement can count on at least 75 euros and a maximum of 180 euros per month for basic parental allowance - even if the 10 percent would be less than 75 euros.
If you receive parental allowance plus, you can count on a minimum of EUR 37.50 and a maximum of EUR 90 per month.
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The sibling bonus ends up in the beneficiary's account until the older siblings exceed the stated age limits.
From the following month of life, the surcharge does not apply.
However, the parental allowance will continue to be transferred regularly.
Incidentally, from January 2023 the child benefit was also noticeably increased.
There is no need to apply for a sibling bonus – simply apply for parental allowance for another child
An application for the sibling bonus is not necessary, as this is linked to the parental allowance and therefore does not require a separate application form.
As
Elterngeld.de
reports, the bonus is applied for automatically when you fill out the child benefit application for the sibling.
The parental allowance office then checks the claim.
After you have applied for parental benefit for the sibling, you can sit back and relax and wait for the sibling bonus, as long as you meet the requirements for entitlement to the supplement.
There are also seven tricks you can use to get more parental allowance.