(2023) When will I receive the employee bonus?

The employee savings bonus is paid to you by the government on capital-forming benefits (vwL) that you receive from your employer and invest. However, the employee savings bonus is not available for all vwL investment forms.

There are various investment options into which an employee can invest their capital-forming benefits: They can deposit the money into a bank savings plan, a building society savings contract, their company pension scheme, an investment fund savings plan or a life insurance policy. vwL can also be used to repay a building loan.

Of these options, two are particularly attractive because they receive additional government support in the form of the employee savings bonus. For investment funds and building society savings contracts, the employee savings bonus depends on different income limits: For share-based saving, the taxable income must not exceed 20.000 Euro (40.000 Euro for married couples), and for building society savings, it must not exceed 17.900 Euro (35.800 Euro for married couples). Higher earners are therefore excluded from this support.

With building society savings contracts, there is also an additional advantage: An additional housing bonus, which is available up to an income limit of 35.000 Euro (until 2020: 25.600 Euro) per year (double for married couples).

The income limits are not really that low, as they do not refer to the annual gross income, but to the taxable income. Tax allowances, special expense deductions, work-related expenses and child allowances reduce the income accordingly.