Consideration of children during a transition period

For children aged 18 to 25, there is an entitlement to child benefit for a transition period of up to four full calendar months between two training periods. The same applies to the period between a training period and voluntary service, such as a voluntary social or ecological year or the Federal Voluntary Service. This also applies under the new legal situation from 2015 for the transition period between training and voluntary military service and vice versa (§ 32 Abs. 4 Nr. 2b EStG).

If your child has confirmation of a training place, child benefit can continue for more than four months.

Otherwise, if the four-month period is exceeded, you can prevent the loss of child benefit by having the child register as unemployed for the transition period. This works at least until their 21st birthday.

Currently, the Federal Fiscal Court has ruled that the termination of voluntary service due to illness leads to the loss of the child benefit entitlement (BFH ruling of 9.9.2020, III R 15/20).

Important: If there are interruptions in training periods of more than four months, children should definitely register as seeking work or training, and do so as soon as possible after the end or interruption of the respective training. Then child benefit will also be paid beyond the four-month interruption. A child seeking work is considered until the age of 21, a child seeking a training place until the age of 25.