Welcome, here you will find a quick overview of the main reasons for partial or complete withdrawal of social benefits in Germany.
To begin with, you may be deprived of your social benefits in part or in full.
Reasons for partial withdrawal of social benefits
The first reason for partial withdrawal of benefits is minimum employment, or mini-job.
Deductions from the cash portion of payments (i.e., excluding rent) are made based on gross (or "dirty", before taxes) salary.
You can keep 100 euros, this is the so-called "free amount" (Freibetrag in German, from a salary of 100.01 euros to 1000.01 euros, another 20% of the earned amount is deducted - this is the money that is also "free" and remains for you in addition to social benefits. The difference is deducted from the monthly payment).
And now the calculation:
- gross income of 520 euros (if you do not pay pension fund contributions from it - this is at your discretion, then you will also receive 520 euros in your hands, i.e. in the case of Minijob, gross = net)
- the first 100 euros are deducted from 520 euros -> 420 euros remain
- 20% is deducted from 420 euros - this amounts to 84 euros
- the balance is 336 euros: this is the amount of the monthly payment from the Jobcenter. Thus, your real income from work is 184 euros out of 520 euros. That is, your monthly income will increase by 184 euros.
At the same time, the Jobcenter continues to pay you the subsistence minimum, rent and health insurance, etc. You also retain the right to purchase a social travel card and other benefits.
The second reason why your social benefits may be reduced is any receipts on your card.
If you receive funds and cannot explain their origin after submitting your account statement to the Jobcenter, you may be partially or completely deprived of social benefits. In case of partial deprivation, the amount is calculated on an individual basis.
The third reason is a large balance on the card in the reporting period. If you have a lot of money left over, then you don't need as much and can be charged less. Such cases are rare, but you may have questions about your account balance.
The fourth reason is the receipt of regular payments. That is, pensions, scholarships, dividends, and the like.
The fifth reason is transfers to relatives and donations. If you transfer your social money to support someone, you can conclude that you don't need as much and reduce the amount of your payment. The social programme is intended to support only the poor living in the country, not their relatives abroad.
The sixth reason is that one of your family members has gone to work. Each such case is considered individually.
Reasons for complete deprivation of social benefits
The first reason is going to work when your salary exceeds the subsistence level. The amount is approximately 1000 euros gross per month.
If you take up full-time or part-time work during the Teilzeit, you will be deprived of all benefits, including housing and health insurance. This means that you will have to pay for it yourself in the future.
The second reason is that you have overdue the submission of documents required of you or have violated the procedure. Under these conditions, you may be denied benefits.
The third reason is that you have sold something, received an inheritance, gift or prize, and, accordingly, received a large amount of money on your account.
Useful notes
Remember:
- If you resign your job at your own accord, you are not entitled to receive social assistance for three months.
- You cannot simultaneously receive subsistence payments from the labour office and, for example, a housing subsidy.
- When you hand in documents to the labour office or other state institutions or send them to them, ask the labour office for confirmation of their acceptance. This can be important in case your documents get lost at the labour office.
- If you are already attending a language course paid for by the social office and have a job offer, you should not worry that you will not be paid for the course. The courses will remain free for you.
- Any changes in your professional or social life do not affect your children. You will still receive basic child support payments, even if you no longer receive social benefits from the Labour Office.
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