How long is maternity leave benefit available?

The maternity allowance is paid during the maternity protection period. The maternity protection period begins six weeks before and ends eight weeks after the calculated date of birth. If the child is born too early or has a proven disability, the eight-week maternity protection period after the birth can be extended to twelve weeks.

The same applies to multiple births: If a pregnant woman gives birth to twins or triplets, for example, these additional four weeks of maternity benefit are also granted. This must then be applied for within these first eight weeks after the calculated date of birth.

Birth Complications
Birth Preparation Course

How does the maternity protection benefit affect taxes?

The maternity allowance is not taxed. However, it is added to the amount used to calculate the income tax rate. The income tax to be paid may therefore increase slightly due to the maternity allowance, although the taxable income itself does not increase. Furthermore, the payment of maternity pay does not create an obligation to pay a part of it into the statutory pension fund. The maternity allowance is therefore entirely at the disposal of the (expectant) mother.

Is there also maternity leave benefit for self-employed persons?

For women who have become self-employed with their profession, it is not compulsory to take out insurance with a health insurance company. So if a health insurance is waived, the regular payments to the health insurance company are not necessary. On the other hand, this means that there is no entitlement to sickness benefit or maternity benefit.

Self-employed persons can, however, voluntarily insure themselves through the so-called declaration of choice, pay into the health insurance company and are accordingly entitled to payments such as sickness and maternity benefits. It is therefore already helpful to find out whether the woman in question is entitled to sickness benefit – because then maternity benefit is normally also paid out. In any case, the contact person in this case is the respective private or statutory health insurance company. This topic might also be of interest to you: Everything about breastfeeding

All articles in this series: