(2024) When is my child accommodated outside my household?

You can only claim the training allowance if your child does not live in your household for a certain period. The duration is not specified, but a six-week internship, for example, is too short.

The decisive factor is the child's independent living arrangements. This is the case if the child lives in their own rented flat or a shared flat. Your child is also considered to be living independently if they

• live in a boarding school or home
• live with relatives
• live in your privately owned flat, which you do not share
• live in a self-contained flat in your house

External accommodation is therefore applicable if the child lives spatially and domestically separate from the parents' household during vocational training, such as in a boarding school, full-day care facility or student shared accommodation during their studies, etc.

For separated or divorced spouses, external accommodation for the child is only applicable if the child lives outside both parental households, i.e. with neither the mother nor the father.

If your child comes home during the holidays, you are still entitled to the training allowance. Visits at weekends or during school or semester holidays are therefore not detrimental.