Parental allowance and parental leave (Elterngeld and Elternzeit)

You can usually receive Elterngeld if you:

• live in Germany (or are subject to German social insurance, for example as a posted worker);
• live in the same household as your child and look after them yourself;
• work no more than 32 hours a week on average in the months you receive it.

Employees, self-employed people, students and people without previous income can all qualify. People without income from work receive the minimum amount of €300.

Income limit. There is no Elterngeld if your taxable income (zu versteuerndes Einkommen) in the last completed tax year before the birth was more than €175,000. For couples, the taxable incomes of both parents are added together, and the same €175,000 limit applies to single parents. Taxable income is lower than gross salary, so check your last tax assessment.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens with a right of free movement are treated like German citizens.

Citizens of other countries qualify with a settlement permit, an EU long-term residence permit, an EU Blue Card, an ICT Card or a Mobile ICT Card, or a residence permit that allows work for at least six months, with these main exceptions:

• Not qualifying: permits for vocational training (section 16e of the Residence Act), au pairs and seasonal work (section 19c(1)), the European Voluntary Service (section 19e) and certain job-search permits under section 20a(5).
• Qualifying only if you work, take parental leave or receive unemployment benefit: permits for studies (section 16b), recognition of foreign qualifications (section 16d), job search (section 20) and certain other job-search permits under section 20a(5).
• Humanitarian permits under sections 23(1) (because of war), 23a or 25(3) to (5): you qualify if you work, take parental leave or receive unemployment benefit, or after at least 15 months of lawful, permitted or tolerated stay in Germany.

These are the rules of section 1(7) of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG), which mirror those for child benefit. Your permit card shows the section it was issued under. If in doubt, ask the Elterngeld office.

Elterngeld is based on your average net earnings from work before the birth:

• Employees: the 12 calendar months before the month of birth. Months with maternity protection pay, pregnancy-related illness or Elterngeld for an older child are normally skipped, and earlier months are used instead.
• Self-employed people: the profits in the last completed tax year before the birth.

You then receive:

• 67 percent of net earnings between €1,000 and €1,200;
• a rate that falls gradually to 65 percent for higher earnings, with net earnings counted only up to €2,770 a month, which gives the maximum of €1,800;
• a rate that rises gradually up to 100 percent for net earnings below €1,000;
• at least €300, even without any previous income.

Extras: a sibling bonus of 10 percent (at least €75) if there are young siblings in the household, and €300 more for each additional baby in a multiple birth.

Important for newcomers: only earnings that were taxable in Germany count. A salary you earned abroad before moving, and which was not taxed in Germany, is generally not included. If you arrived shortly before the birth, your Elterngeld may therefore be much lower than your previous salary suggests, possibly only the €300 minimum.

Use the official Elterngeld calculator for an estimate. Elterngeld is tax-free, but it raises the tax rate on your other income (Progressionsvorbehalt), so you must declare it in your tax return.

Basiselterngeld is the standard form:

• Parents together get 12 months. They get 2 extra partner months if the other parent also has reduced earnings for at least two months, so a couple can share 14 months, for example 12 and 2, or 7 and 7.
• Each parent can take at most 12 months and must take at least 2 months.
• It can only be received until the child is 14 months old.
• Single parents can, under certain conditions, receive all 14 months themselves.
• Both parents can receive Basiselterngeld at the same time for only one month, and only within the first 12 months. Exceptions apply for multiple births, premature births and children with a disability.

ElterngeldPlus is designed for parents who work part time:

• It pays at most half of the monthly Basiselterngeld, but for twice as long: one month of Basiselterngeld can be exchanged for two months of ElterngeldPlus.
• It can be received up to the child's 32nd month of life, as long as at least one parent receives it without a break from the 15th month.
• Unlike Basiselterngeld, ElterngeldPlus can be received by both parents at the same time.

Partnership bonus (Partnerschaftsbonus): if both parents work between 24 and 32 hours a week at the same time, each receives 2 to 4 extra months of ElterngeldPlus. The months must be consecutive and taken together. Single parents can receive the bonus under similar conditions.

Elterngeld is paid by the child's months of life (for example 15 March to 14 April), not calendar months. Months in which the mother receives maternity pay (Mutterschaftsgeld) and the employer's top-up after the birth count as her Basiselterngeld months, and this pay is deducted from the Elterngeld for those months.

In Berlin, Elterngeld is handled by the Elterngeld office of the youth office (Elterngeldstelle at the Jugendamt) in the district where you live and are registered. You apply only after the birth. The application must be in writing and is signed by the applicant; the other parent also signs to confirm they have seen it.

Online. The federal online service ElterngeldDigital no longer accepts new applications. It has been replaced by the online service mein-elterngeldantrag.de, which you start with a BundID account (username and password is enough). As of October 2026, Berlin's service portal says the online application is being rebuilt: you complete the form digitally, then print, sign and post it with your documents to your Elterngeld office. Check the Service-Portal Berlin page for when full online submission is available again.

Documents usually requested:

• the child's birth certificate for Elterngeld purposes, in the original (the registry office issues it after the birth);
• proof of income: payslips for the 12 months before the birth, or your tax assessment if you are self-employed;
• the health insurer's certificate on maternity pay and the employer's certificate on the top-up;
• your employer's confirmation of your working hours during Elterngeld if you work part time;
• ID documents of both parents, and for non-German citizens the registration certificate and residence permit.

Berlin asks you to send the birth certificate, the maternity pay certificate and the income proof together with the application so that it can be processed quickly. Elterngeld is paid in the course of each month of life.

Every employee, including trainees, has a right to parental leave if they live with the child and look after them. It does not depend on nationality or on receiving Elterngeld.

• Length: up to three years per parent per child, up to the child's third birthday. Up to 24 months of it can be moved to the period between the third and eighth birthday. Both parents can take it at the same time.
• Notice: request it from your employer in text form at least 7 weeks before it starts (for leave before the third birthday), or 13 weeks before (for leave between the third and eighth birthday). For leave before the third birthday, you must say at the same time which periods you will take within the first two years.
• Blocks: each parent can split their leave into three blocks, or more with the employer's agreement. The employer can refuse a third block between the third and eighth birthday within eight weeks for urgent business reasons.
• Mothers: the maternity protection period after the birth counts towards the mother's parental leave.
• Part-time work: you may work up to 32 hours a week during parental leave. If your employer has more than 15 employees and you have worked there for more than six months, you have a right to reduce your hours to between 15 and 32 a week for at least two months, up to twice during your leave. The employer can only refuse for urgent business reasons, in text form, with reasons, and within four weeks of your request (eight weeks for leave after the third birthday); otherwise the reduction counts as agreed.
• Dismissal protection: your employer may not dismiss you from the time you request parental leave, at the earliest eight weeks before it starts (14 weeks for leave after the third birthday), and throughout the leave. Exceptions need approval from the state labour protection authority.
• Holiday: the employer may reduce your annual holiday by one twelfth for each full month of leave, unless you work part time for them during the leave.
• Resigning: if you want to leave your job at the end of parental leave, you must give three months' notice.