SteuerGo FAQs

How far back can I claim child benefit?

To receive child benefit, an application is mandatory. Child benefit must always be applied for in writing at the relevant family benefits office.

Note: Since 1 January 2018, a special limitation rule with a payout restriction applies to child benefit. The payout period has been significantly shortened: child benefit is now paid retroactively for only the last six months before the beginning of the month in which the application for child benefit was received, instead of the last four years.

For the calculation of allowances, it is irrelevant whether you have actually received child benefit or not. When the tax office compares the amount of child benefit and child allowance as part of the favourable assessment, it does not record the child benefit you actually received, but only your entitlement (see the note on the new regulation below).

During the income tax assessment, the tax office checks whether the tax saving from the child allowance and the BEA allowance is higher than the child benefit. If this is the case, the allowances are taken into account. The child benefit is then added to the calculation of the income tax to be assessed.

If the allowances are lower than the child benefit, the child benefit remains. Child benefit is therefore a kind of advance payment on the possible tax advantage. As part of the favourable assessment, the entitlement to child benefit is taken as the basis, even if no child benefit was actually paid out. In this way, the tax assessment does not have to be changed if the parents submit an application for child benefit retrospectively.

Currently, as parents, you must always first apply for child benefit, even if you speculate that the allowances will be more favourable for you. In any case, the child benefit is added to the income tax.

Attention: In practice, there are numerous cases in which child-related benefits are not granted because there is an "entitlement to child benefit" to be credited, but this has not actually been paid. And above all: Since the retroactive payment of child benefit has also been legally limited to six months, child benefit can often no longer be realised retrospectively. In other words, parents who forgot to apply for child benefit in time, even though they were entitled to it, are more or less left empty-handed under the current legal situation, as the "entitlement to child benefit" is credited. This means that the children's subsistence level is taxed. However, there is currently light at the end of the tunnel: Very hidden in the "Act against Illegal Employment and Social Benefit Fraud" is a legal change that affects child-related benefits in income tax. Due to an amendment to Section 31 of the Income Tax Act, it is now no longer the child benefit to which you are entitled that counts, but the child benefit paid out if the child benefit was applied for too late and therefore not paid out. Those affected can then at least benefit from the allowances in the tax assessment.

Tax tip for old cases: Until mid-2019, Section 66 (3) of the Income Tax Act stated: "Child benefit is paid retroactively only for the last six months before the beginning of the month in which the application for child benefit was received." There were plenty of cases where child benefit was, for example, retroactively granted in January 2018 for the whole of 2017, but only paid out for six months. In any case, the tax authorities and the family benefits offices interpreted the regulation in this way.

But that's not how it works! The Federal Fiscal Court has reprimanded the tax authorities and especially the family benefits offices: If child benefit is granted, it must also be paid out. The family benefits offices should have only granted child benefit for six months. (BFH ruling of 19 February 2020, III R 66/18).

• The case: The claimant is the father of a daughter born in February 1997. In an application already submitted in 2015, the claimant stated that his daughter intended to start training as an educator in September 2015. The family benefits office initially granted child benefit, but revoked the child benefit approval in July 2015 due to the lack of proof of training. With an application received by the family benefits office in April 2018, the claimant again requested child benefit, this time even for the period from August 2015. In a notice dated April 2018, the family benefits office granted ongoing child benefit from August 2015. However, it limited the back payment of child benefit to the period from October 2017 to April 2018 (= six months). The tax court upheld the claim against this and recognised a back payment claim for the months August 2015 to September 2017.
• The BFH agreed with the lower court. As the family benefits office had retroactively granted child benefit beyond the six-month period in the case in dispute, the BFH also considered it obliged to pay the child benefit to the claimant to this extent.