Is there an entitlement to child benefit and the child allowance if the child is doing voluntary service?
Children aged 18 to 25 (up to their 25th birthday) who participate in a voluntary social year, a voluntary ecological year or certain other voluntary services are still taken into account for tax purposes.
Since 2012, this includes in particular the Federal Voluntary Service (Bufdi) and other services abroad according to §5 of the Federal Voluntary Service Act.
- The voluntary year under the Youth Voluntary Service Act can also be completed abroad. It is important that the sponsor is based in Germany.
- If a child participates in the European action programme "Youth in Action", they can receive child benefit for up to twelve months.
- A child can also be considered if they complete an international youth voluntary service, a development policy voluntary service "weltwärts" or a voluntary service "for all generations".
Important notice from the BFH
There is no entitlement to child benefit for a child in training after their 25th birthday if they have committed to a multi-year service in disaster control and were thus exempted from military service. This also applies to other services with the same effect, such as medical services at the German Red Cross, the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe or the Malteser Hilfsdienst, as well as technical services at the Technisches Hilfswerk (BFH ruling of 19.10.2017, III R 8/17).
Current case law
The Federal Fiscal Court also ruled that no child benefit is paid if a child cannot start their training due to illness and does not perform a recognised voluntary service during this time. In the specific case, a daughter was unable to start her planned voluntary social year after graduating from high school due to illness. The BFH clarified: The mere intention to start training or voluntary service later is not sufficient. What matters is that the child is actually in training or performing one of the services mentioned in § 32 Abs. 4 Satz 1 Nr. 2 EStG (BFH ruling of 09.09.2020, III R 15/20).
