(2022)
What happens if the child does not take up the training place?
For children over 18 who cannot start or continue their education due to lack of a training place, parents are entitled to child benefit or a child allowance, as well as the associated child-related tax benefits (§ 32 para. 4 no. 2c EStG). In some cases, the entitlement to child benefit may also be lost.
However, the child is only considered for tax purposes if they are making a serious effort to find a training place and can prove their efforts with appropriate documents.
If the child has been offered a training or study place starting next year, there is a continuous entitlement to child benefit for "waiting for a training place" until then - regardless of a four-month limit (according to § 32 para. 4 no. 2c EStG). But what if the child is offered a training or study place but does not accept it for personal reasons? Is the child still considered willing to train?
The Federal Fiscal Court has also clarified the interesting question of whether parents still receive child benefit if the child does not accept an offered training or study place: If the child lets a training place lapse, they are generally no longer considered "willing to train", so the child benefit ceases when the acceptance period expires (BFH ruling of 26.8.2014, XI R 14/12).
A postponement of the start of training does not affect the assumption of willingness to train if the child has been offered a training place but can only start the training at the next possible date due to school, study, or company organisational reasons. A postponement due to the child's temporary illness is also accepted (BFH ruling of 28.5.2013, XI R 38/11).
Currently, the Federal Fiscal Court has ruled that there is no entitlement to child benefit if a child cannot start their training due to illness and the end of the illness is not foreseeable (BFH ruling of 12.11.2020, III R 49/18).
Important: Children must register as jobseekers or training place seekers if they are waiting for a training place for more than four months or if their training is interrupted, and they must do so as soon as possible after the end or interruption of the respective training. A job-seeking child is considered until the age of 21, a training place-seeking child until the age of 25.
If a child, for example, had to wait longer than four months due to corona before starting their voluntary social year, the parents lost their entitlement to child benefit, and this applies to the entire transition period, not just the period exceeding the four-month limit. The child should not have simply waited for the start of the voluntary social year but should have registered as a job or training place seeker. Only then would the child benefit entitlement (at least until the age of 21) have been maintained (ruling of 14.6.2022, 13 K 745/21 Kg).
