Child benefit

Kindergeld is a monthly payment for children. Section 66 of the Income Tax Act currently sets it at 259 euros per child. Payment starts in the month you meet the conditions and continues until the end of the month in which they no longer apply.

In short

• Kindergeld is 259 euros a month for each child. A cabinet bill would raise it to 267 euros from 1 January 2027 and to 272 euros from 2028; that bill is not law. Payment runs from the month the conditions are met until the end of the month in which they end. The ordinary age limit is 18; adult children need one of the qualifying grounds below.
• Section 62 requires a tax identification number. If it is still pending, apply promptly and ask how to supply it later: section 70(1), second sentence, limits retroactive payment to six months.
• Apply to the competent Familienkasse electronically, unless it accepts a signed paper application under section 67. Do not send the application to a former employer-run family fund.
• Kindergeld and the tax-free child allowance are not both paid in full. The Familienkasse and the tax office coordinate them in the tax assessment.
• Kindergeld and Elterngeld are separate benefits. You can apply for Kindergeld without waiting for a Kita or school place.

What you need to know

Section 62 gives the claim, for a child within the meaning of section 63, to a person who has a home or ordinary residence in Germany, or who is treated as fully tax-liable under the rules it cites. The claimant must be identified by the tax identification number. If the number is issued later, it works back to months in which the other conditions were already met.

Section 63 applies the child-age rules in section 32(3) to (5). The ordinary age limit is 18. For an adult child, continuation needs a qualifying ground: a registered jobseeker route before 21 under the conditions in section 32(4), or, normally before 25, education or training, a qualifying transition of no more than four months, inability to start or continue training for lack of a place, or a qualifying voluntary service.

After a first vocational qualification or first degree, that under-25 route also restricts work; regular work of up to 20 hours a week, a training employment relationship, or a statutory Minijob is harmless under the section.

A separate disability route can continue beyond 25 if a physical, mental or psychological disability arose before 25 and prevents the child from supporting themselves. Older service or transitional cases need a separate check. Before the child turns 18, ask the Familienkasse what continuation evidence it needs; living at home does not itself preserve payment.

Do not treat the first-three-month income exclusion still printed in section 62(1a) as the applicable rule for every EU newcomer. In C-411/20, the Court of Justice held that an EU citizen who lawfully establishes habitual residence cannot be excluded for those months solely because they have no domestic earnings. The Federal Employment Agency’s current guidance requires EU and EEA newcomers to meet the free-movement conditions from the fourth month and lists the qualifying situations.

A third-country national who is not entitled to free movement receives Kindergeld only in the cases in section 62(2). Those cases include specified settlement and residence titles, and some routes that require work, Elternzeit, or benefits under Book III. The Federal Employment Agency’s page on child benefit from abroad explains the cross-border tests. Ask the Familienkasse to assess your residence status rather than assuming either automatic payment or an automatic three-month exclusion.

Section 66 (1) states the amount: 259 euros a month for each child. Subsection 3 says that if the tax-free child allowances are raised, Kindergeld is raised to match, rounded to the full euro. Section 52 of the same Act can time how amendments apply. The figure to rely on for a given month is the one in the Familienkasse decision for that month, checked against the consolidated statute.

On 2 September 2026 the cabinet adopted a bill, the Einkommensteuerreformgesetz 2027, that would raise Kindergeld to 267 euros a month from 1 January 2027 and to 272 euros from 1 January 2028. The Bundestag gave it a first reading on 8 October 2026. A Finance Committee hearing is set for 4 November 2026. The Bundestag has not passed it. It is not law. Use 259 euros until a statute says otherwise.

Section 67 says the application is filed with the competent Familienkasse electronically in the official data set. The Familienkasse can waive the electronic filing if the application is made in writing and signed by the claimant in their own hand. Someone with a legitimate interest in the payment may also apply, and the claimant must then share the tax identification number.

Since 1 January 2024, the Federal Employment Agency’s Familienkassen also handle income-tax child benefit for public-service employees. Use the Agency’s office finder or ask it which Familienkasse handles your address or cross-border case; do not send the application to a former employer-run family fund.

From 1 January 2027, an Act published on 20 October 2026 allows the Familienkasse to waive an application when the Federal Central Tax Office notifies it of a birth. That is a power to dispense with the application in those birth cases, not a rule that every child is paid automatically from that date. If the fund has not told you that payment has started, apply.

What to do

1. Confirm you have a tax identification number. Section 62 requires it. The tax-ID page explains how that number arrives after registration. Apply promptly if it is still pending and ask how to supply it later: section 70(1), second sentence, limits retroactive payment to the last six months before the month the application arrives.
2. Apply to the Familienkasse electronically, unless it accepts a signed paper application under section 67. Apply for each child the statute counts. Do not wait for a school place. Kita and school are separate.
3. Use 259 euros per child per month as the amount written in section 66. Do not budget the 267 euro figure in the 2027 cabinet bill until it is law. Read the decision for the months it covers. If section 52 times a change, the decision states the month.
4. Tell the Familienkasse when a child leaves the household, finishes the education that section 63 still counts, or when you leave Germany. The payment stops at the end of the month in which the conditions end.

Apply without an intermediary charge

Official Kindergeld applications are free. Apply directly to the Familienkasse, which decides the claim. A private form-filling service is optional and cannot decide whether you qualify. Open the Agency’s family-services page independently and keep proof that your application reached the Familienkasse in an accepted form. Paying a private service alone does not preserve payment months.

Child supplement is a separate application

Kinderzuschlag is a separate child supplement. Apply to the Familienkasse under section 6a of the Federal Child Benefit Act, using its online application or the paper or in-person route on the Bundesagentur page. You do not need to pay a private service for the form.

The award is for six months. It normally starts in the month you apply, with no payment for earlier months. When the six months end, you must apply again. A late decision can still pay the months of that award. It does not itself add months before the application. During those six months, section 6a(7) sentence 3 says later changes in income or assets generally do not change the award already granted. They are considered on the next application. The current award does change if the composition of the needs unit (Bedarfsgemeinschaft) changes, or if the statutory maximum supplement changes. You must still tell the Familienkasse about changes in your personal circumstances and your family’s. Section 6a(3) counts assets only above 40,000 euros for the entitled person, plus 15,000 euros for each further member of the needs unit.

A separate statutory exception can preserve an earlier application date when you held off applying because you had claimed another social benefit. Under section 5(3) of the Federal Child Benefit Act and section 28 of Book X, the replacement application can reach back up to one year in qualifying refusal, repayment or withdrawal cases. For Kinderzuschlag, submit it without delay after the end of the month in which the refusal or repayment decision becomes binding. Ask the Familienkasse whether this exception applies; do not rely on the ordinary six-month award to preserve an earlier date.

The Bundesagentur page states a minimum gross family income of 900 euros for a couple and 600 euros for a single parent. This is an eligibility condition, not the amount paid. The child must live in your household, be under 25, and not be married or in a registered life partnership, and you must receive Kindergeld or a comparable benefit. The Familienkasse also checks the other conditions on that page, including whether your income, together with Kinderzuschlag and possibly Wohngeld, would cover the family’s maintenance. Ask the Familienkasse to calculate the supplement for your circumstances.

Common mistakes

• Quoting an older monthly amount without checking section 66 and the Familienkasse decision for the relevant payment month. The statutory amount stated here is 259 euros per child.
• Treating the cabinet’s 267 euro figure as already payable. Section 66 still sets 259 euros. The 2027 income-tax bill is not law.
• Waiting for a tax identification number without contacting the Familienkasse. Later identification can establish eligibility for earlier months, but section 70(1), second sentence, limits retroactive payment to six months.
• Assuming that from 2027 no one needs to apply. The Familienkasse may waive the application only for the birth cases the new statute names. If it has not confirmed that payment has started, apply.
• Treating Kindergeld as a replacement for Elterngeld. They are different statutes and can both be relevant after a birth.