Guidelines on “Application for Child Benefit” and “Appendix: Child”
Please fill out the application form and “Appendix: Child” form carefully and in a legible manner. Please mark relevant
sections with a X. Do not forget your signature! If you are under-age, your legal representative must sign for you on your
behalf.
The application must also be signed by your spouse or civil partner living together with you/the other parent if he/she has
agreed that you receive Child Benefit. If no agreement has been reached, please inform the Family Benefits Office
accordingly. If the person entitled to payment has been determined by a court of law, please enclose the decision of the court.
Please note that your application can only be processed when it has been fully completed. Insofar as proof must be submitted
for the determination of the child support benefit claim, information that is not required (e.g. school grades on a transcript)
may be made illegible.
Since 1 January 2016 the requirement for an entitlement to Child Benefit is that the person entitled to the benefit and the child be
identified by means of the tax identification number allocated to them (Section 139b of the German Fiscal Code). Since 2008 every
person whose main place of residence or sole place of residence is recorded in a register of residents in Germany is allocated a tax
identification number. Persons who are not required to register but who are liable for tax in Germany also receive a tax identification
number.
Your tax identification number and that of your child can be found in the relevant notification from the Federal Central Tax Office
(Bundeszentralamt für Steuern). Your number is also located on your electronic wage and tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung)
from your employer or in your income tax assessment (Einkommensteuerbescheid). If you cannot find your tax identification number
in these documents, you can ask for it to be sent again by using the online entry form on the Federal Central Tax Office's website at
www.bzst.de. The tax identification number will be notified to you in writing by the Federal Central Tax Office. For data protection
reasons it cannot be provided over the telephone or by email.
If you have moved to Germany from abroad, you will automatically receive your tax identification number in the post from the Federal
Central Tax Office when you have registered with the residents' registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt). Your child's tax identification
number will be sent immediately after his/her birth to the registered address. For children who in the meantime have lived abroad but
have already received a tax identification number in Germany, please give the tax identification number received in Germany. If a tax
identification number in Germany does not exist for the child because e.g. he/she lives abroad (EU), then the child must be identified
by other appropriate means such as standard personal identification processes and documents used in the respective countries. Your
Family Benefits Office will advise you about which specific documents are required.
Answers to more questions on the tax identification number as a requirement for entitlements can be found online at www.bzst.de
Legal position with effect from 2018
Effective with 01.01.2018: Child benefit is paid retroactively, according to § 66 Sec. 3 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) only for the last
six months before the beginning of the month in which the application for child support benefit has been received.
Application for Child Benefit
1 and 2 : Details of person making application und spouse/civil partner
If both parents of a child fulfil the requirements for the receipt of Child Benefit, the person making the application should be the parent
who with the agreement of both parents is to receive the Child Benefit. The family status “permanently separated” is only to be chosen
if in the case of married couples one spouse has the intention of permanently maintaining the separation. If you are not married or your
spouse or civil partner is not at the same time the other biological parent of at least one of the children listed in the “Appendix: Child”
form, please provide details of the other biological parent in the “Appendix: Child” form (in the case of foster children or grandchildren,
please provide details of both biological parents).
If your nationality is non-German or if it is a nationality of an EU / EEA country or Switzerland, please enclose the residence permit.
4 : Notification should not be sent to me but to the following person
Here you can provide details of an authorised receiving agent (e.g. tax advisor, tax advice and support association,
(Lohnsteuerhilfeverein), etc.) who should receive the notification concerning Child Benefit.
6 : Following reckonable children to be taken into consideration
Children in respect of whom Child Benefit is received by another person can be included as part of your application for the purpose of
increasing the Child Benefit (‘reckonable children’). If you wish for reckonable children to be included as part of this consideration, in
the case of each child please provide details of the person in receipt of Child Benefit for the reckonable child and which Family Benefits
Office pays the Child Benefit.
