What is parental allowance?
The parental allowance is a family benefit in Germany, which serves to secure the economic existence, i.e. the basis of life, for mothers and fathers with small children. The parents money is a so-called remuneration replacement achievement of the state, which is granted by carriers of the social security. Since 2007 there is a law that regulates the parental allowance and parental leave, the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act.
The parental allowance is dependent on net income and replaces the former education allowance. Entitlement to this family benefit is open to all parents who are not or not fully employed due to the care of the child and who have to interrupt their work to care for the child. Mothers and fathers receive the parental benefit beyond the period of maternity leave.
Parents receive the parental allowance in principle for 12 months from the time immediately after the birth. It is possible to extend the period with two partner months to fourteen months and single parents are also entitled to fourteen months of parental allowance. The amount of the parental allowance depends on the net income of the parent who applies for parental allowance. In addition, parents who were unemployed or without income before the birth of the child receive the minimum amount of parental allowance of 300.00€ for a period of fourteen months. There are three variants of the parental allowance: basic parental allowance, ElterngeldPlus and the partnership bonus.
What is the parental allowance application?
In order to be able to receive the parents money, it is necessary to make an application for parents money, also parents money application mentioned, in time. The prerequisite for the application is a birth certificate of the child. This means that the application can only be made after the birth.
One should place the request for parents money within the first three months after the birth of the child, which a retroactive payment of the parents money is permitted maximally three months starting from the time of the application position. Each federal state has its own parental money offices, to which the parental money application is sent. In some federal states, Bavaria and Saarland, it is possible to send the parental allowance application online.
The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth provides information about and arranges for the responsible parental allowance offices to which the applications are sent. Each federal state has its own form. The form for the parental allowance application can also be obtained from the responsible parental allowance office. In addition to the birth certificate, the application requires proof of previous income, the last tax assessment and, if necessary, other documents such as certificates of health insurance during maternity leave with private health insurance.
All articles in this series:
- Parental allowance
- When do I get parental allowance?
- How can I calculate the parental allowance?
- What is meant by Elterngeld Plus?
- How does the parental allowance affect my tax return?
- What about the parental allowance for twins?
- Parental and maternity benefits – What is the difference?
- Is there parental benefit when I receive Hartz IV?
- What is the employer’s certificate for parental allowance?
- Does the parental allowance start earlier in the case of a premature birth?
- How do annual special payments affect the parental allowance?
