Up to what age is Kindergeld paid?
Kindergeld is paid for a child
- until the age of 18 without any further condition;
- until the age of 21, if the child is not employed and is registered as seeking work with an employment agency in Germany;
- until the age of 25, if the child is in training, cannot find a training place, is doing voluntary service or is in a transition period of no more than 4 months;
- with no age limit, if because of a disability the child cannot support themselves and the disability arose before the age of 25.
Whether one of these situations applies is decided by the Familienkasse, not by us.
In which month it starts and ends
Kindergeld is paid from the beginning of the month in which the conditions are met until the end of the month in which they cease to apply (§ 66 Abs. 2 EStG).
A child counts in the month of birth and in every following month at whose start the child is not yet 18 years old (§ 32 Abs. 3 EStG).
The transition period
The law means the time
- between two stages of training;
- between a stage of training and a voluntary service or voluntary military service.
It may last no more than 4 months (§ 32 Abs. 4 Satz 1 Nr. 2 Buchst. b EStG).
If the child works after their first training
If the child has completed a first vocational training or a first degree, training, transition period, lack of a training place and voluntary service only count if the child is not in gainful employment.
The following do no harm:
- regular work of up to 20 hours a week;
- training that is itself an employment relationship;
- a Minijob or short-term employment (§ 8 Abs. 1 SGB IV).
Which voluntary services count
The law lists these services (§ 32 Abs. 4 Satz 1 Nr. 2 Buchst. d EStG):
- the voluntary social year;
- the voluntary ecological year;
- the Federal Volunteer Service;
- volunteering in the European Solidarity Corps;
- another service abroad under the Federal Volunteer Service Act;
- the development volunteer service „weltwärts“;
- the volunteer service for all generations;
- the International Youth Volunteer Service.
When the child comes of age
From the age of 18, Kindergeld is only paid for one of the reasons above.
Kinderzuschlag: which age limit applies
Kinderzuschlag is only paid for children for whom there is an entitlement to Kindergeld, and only until the age of 25 (§ 6a Abs. 1 BKGG).