How to Apply for Elterngeld in English: Step-by-Step Guide

Elterngeld is not paid automatically. You have to apply, and timing matters more than most parents realise.

The 3-month retroactivity rule (§7 Abs. 1 BEEG): Elterngeld can only be paid retroactively for the 3 life months of the child (Lebensmonate) before your application date. Life months run from birth date to birth date (e.g., born Jan 15 means month 1 is Jan 15 to Feb 14). If you apply when your baby is 5 months old, life months 1 and 2 are gone permanently. You cannot get them back later.

The practical deadline: If you want Elterngeld from birth (month 1), you must apply by the time your child turns 3 months old. Most offices date your application from when they receive a complete file, not the postmark, so build in time for the post.

Why applying early is always better:

• •You secure all your birth-month entitlement immediately
• •Processing takes 4 to 8 weeks, so applying early means money arrives sooner
• •If you have incomplete documents, you have time to gather them without losing months
• •You can still change your planned months later (until the relevant life month has ended)

Prepare before the birth: Gather your payslips, employer certificate, and residence permit documents during the last weeks of pregnancy. You can complete most of the form before your baby is born and add the birth details and birth certificate once they arrive.

A note on Mutterschutz: If you receive Mutterschaftsgeld (maternity benefit), those weeks fall into the Mutterschutz period. The months that overlap with Mutterschutz are automatically counted as Basiselterngeld months, so your Elterngeld clock starts from birth regardless of when the Mutterschutz ends.

The application form lists required documents at each relevant section. Here is the complete checklist for most situations.

All applicants:

• •Birth certificate (Geburtsurkunde) in the original. This is the special Elterngeld-purpose version issued by the registry office (Standesamt), not the hospital birth record. It must be the original, not a copy.
• •Payslips (Lohn- or Gehaltsabrechnungen) for the 12 calendar months before the birth month. As the mother, this means the 12 months before your Mutterschutz begins. As the father or non-birthing parent, it is the 12 months before the birth month.
• •Your Steuer-Identifikationsnummer (tax ID). You can find this on any previous Steuerbescheid or Lohnsteuerbescheinigung.

Employed mothers:

• •Mutterschaftsgeld certificate from your Krankenkasse (health insurance), showing the daily amount paid
• •Employer supplement certificate (Arbeitgeberbescheinigung über den Zuschuss zum Mutterschaftsgeld)
• •Employer confirmation of your planned leave: dates when you stop working and planned return hours, if applicable

Non-EU citizens:

• •Copy of your current residence permit (Aufenthaltstitel)
• •If your permit is being renewed, bring the Fiktionsbescheinigung (bridge certificate showing you applied for renewal)

Self-employed parents:

• •Tax assessment (Einkommensteuerbescheid) for the most recent completed tax year
• •If the Steuerbescheid is not yet available, you can submit a declaration of expected income. The office issues a provisional decision and adjusts later.

Civil servants (Beamte):

• •Certificate of Dienstbezüge (service pay) during Mutterschutz
• •Certificate of any supplement to those Dienstbezüge

Premature births:

• •Medical certificate from the doctor or midwife confirming the original due date and the actual birth date. Premature births (at least 6 weeks early) unlock additional benefit months.

Twins or multiples:

• •Birth certificates for all children born together. The application asks for the total number.

Send copies of everything except the birth certificate, which must be submitted in the original. The Elterngeldstelle will return the original after processing.

The federal Bundesformular (Antragsversion April 2025) runs to 23 pages. Here is what each major section covers and which fields matter most for most applicants.

Section 1: Child details Child's name, date of birth, and whether the child was premature or has a disability. You attach the birth certificate here. For multiples, list all children.

Section 2: Parent details Both parents fill in this section, even if only one is applying. Sub-sections cover:

• •2.a: Single-parent status (check if applicable, and attach proof of tax class II)
• •2.b: Name, date of birth, gender, and marital status for both parents
• •2.c: German residence address. Both parents must have a German address unless an exception applies.
• •2.e: Combined taxable income (zvE) for the year before birth. This is where you declare whether the €175,000 limit is met. Attach the Steuerbescheid if you have it.
• •2.f: Who is filing: both parents together, or one now and the other to be decided later
• •2.g: Nationality. Non-German nationals fill in the Staatsangehörigkeit annex.

Section 3: The child's residence Confirm the child lives with you. Straightforward for most families.

Sections 4 to 6: Employment and working hours during benefit months For each month you are claiming Elterngeld, you declare whether you are working and how many hours per week. The 32-hour limit is checked here. If you plan to return part-time, enter your expected hours. If your hours are not yet confirmed, you can estimate and update later.

Section 7: Income during the assessment period For employed parents, the office calculates your Elterngeld-Netto from your payslips. You confirm the months covered. If any months should be excluded (Mutterschaftsgeld months, sibling Elterngeld months, pregnancy-related sick leave), you mark them here. Excluding those months often increases your calculated income significantly because they are replaced with earlier, better-paid months.

Section 8: Variant and month selection This is the most consequential section. You choose:

• •Which months each parent takes
• •Whether you want Basiselterngeld or ElterngeldPlus for each month
• •Whether you are applying for the Partnerschaftsbonus

You can change these choices later as long as the relevant life month has not yet ended, but it is worth thinking through your plan carefully here. Use the /guide planner to find the optimal split before filling in this section.

Section 9: Sibling bonus Do you have other children under 3, or two or more children under 6 in the household? If yes, you get a 10% top-up automatically.

Section 10: Single-parent full budget Single parents can claim all 14 months (or the equivalent in Plus months) without needing a partner. This section unlocks that entitlement.

Section 11: Partnerschaftsbonus Both parents confirm they will work 24 to 32 hours per week simultaneously during the bonus months. Read the requirements carefully before committing: if either parent falls outside that range in a given month, the bonus for that month is forfeit and may be reclaimed.

Section 12: Data transmission consent You can consent to your Krankenkasse sending the Mutterschaftsgeld data directly to the Elterngeldstelle, skipping the paper certificate. Convenient if you have not received the certificate yet.

Section 13: Signatures Both parents sign. The applicant signs as the primary applicant. The other parent signs to confirm awareness of the budget being used and that they will not claim more than what remains (§7 Abs. 3 BEEG). Exceptions: single parents with sole custody (alleiniges Sorgerecht), and cases under §4c where one parent qualifies for sole receipt of partner months.

You apply to the Elterngeldstelle (parental allowance office) of the Bundesland where your child lives. There is no national office. Each state administers Elterngeld independently.

Which form to use:

13 of the 16 federal states accept the federal Bundesformular. Three states have their own forms:

• •Baden-Württemberg: uses its own state form
• •Bayern (Bavaria): uses its own state form
• •Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW): uses its own state form

For all other states (Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen), the federal form applies.

You can find the correct form and office address through the Familienportal (the official government portal). Your local Standesamt or hospital with a maternity ward can also direct you.

Online vs mail:

All 16 states offer some form of digital application. The level of digital integration varies:

• •Some states have a fully guided digital assistant that walks through the form, checks entries, and lets you upload documents
• •Others accept a scanned PDF sent by email or through a portal
• •A few still require the physical form sent by post or handed in at the office

Important: do not submit to the online tool run by the federal government if your state uses its own form. Go directly to your state's official process.

Submitting in person:

If you are unsure about any section, most Elterngeldstellen offer in-person consultations. Bring all your documents, and a staff member will help you fill in the form. Some offices require an appointment.

Processing address: The application is processed by the Elterngeldstelle at the address of the child's registered residence (Hauptwohnsitz). If you move states after submitting but before processing is complete, notify both offices.

These are the errors the Elterngeldstelle sees most often from applicants. Each one causes either a delay (the office sends it back for correction) or a lower payment.

Wrong tax class on the income calculation The office calculates your Elterngeld-Netto using the tax class you had during the assessment period, not the one you have now. If you changed tax class in the 12 months before birth, your payslips will show different classes in different months. Make sure your payslips match the classes you declare. Changing to tax class III shortly before birth can significantly increase the Elterngeld-Netto, but only if the change happened early enough to appear in the assessment period months.

Forgetting the partner's signature Section 13 of the form requires both parents to sign, even if only one parent is applying. Applications arrive at the office unsigned by the partner regularly. The office returns the form and the process restarts from zero. If your partner is abroad or unavailable, the form can be sent to them for signature and returned to you before submission.

Missing the Mutterschaftsgeld certificate The Krankenkasse Mutterschaftsgeld certificate is a separate document from your health insurance card or membership confirmation. Mothers on statutory health insurance must obtain this certificate specifically for the Elterngeld application. Without it, the office cannot calculate the offset correctly and will put your application on hold.

Not excluding months from the assessment period If any of the 12 assessment months contained Mutterschaftsgeld, Elterngeld for an older sibling, or income loss due to pregnancy-related illness, you can ask the office to exclude those months and replace them with earlier ones (§2b BEEG). Many parents miss this. The excluded months count as zero income and pull your average down, so excluding them and using better-paid earlier months can meaningfully increase your Elterngeld amount.

Choosing Basiselterngeld for months when you will be working part-time Basiselterngeld is offset against earned income during the benefit month. If you plan to return part-time, ElterngeldPlus is almost always the better choice for those months. The base amount is half, but the offset is proportionally gentler, so you keep more of your combined income.

Applying for Partnerschaftsbonus without a firm work arrangement The bonus months are checked strictly after the fact. If either parent is outside the 24 to 32 hours per week range in any bonus month, that month's bonus must be repaid. Only apply for the bonus if your employer has confirmed the hours in writing.

Submitting an incomplete file The clock on your 3-month retroactivity starts when the office receives a complete, processable application. A file missing key documents does not start the clock. Submit everything at once. If a document is genuinely unavailable (for example, the Steuerbescheid for the previous year has not yet been issued), include a written explanation.

Once the Elterngeldstelle receives your complete application, here is what to expect.

Processing time: Typically 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the state and the office's current workload. Some offices, particularly in large cities, can take longer during peak periods (autumn and winter births tend to cluster). An incomplete application restarts the clock when the missing documents arrive.

The Bescheid: You receive a written decision (Bescheid) by post. This letter states the monthly amount, the months approved, and which variant (Basis or Plus) for each month. Read it carefully. Check that the months, amounts, and variants match what you applied for.

Provisional vs final Bescheid: If your tax assessment (Steuerbescheid) for the relevant year was not yet available at the time of your application, the office issues a vorläufiger Bescheid (provisional decision). You still receive payments at the stated amount. Once the final tax assessment is available, the office issues a final Bescheid.

• •If the final amount is higher, you receive a back payment (Nachzahlung)
• •If the final amount is lower, you may receive a Nachforderung (a request to repay the difference)

This is more common for self-employed parents and anyone whose income fluctuates year to year.

If you receive a Nachforderung: Do not ignore it. Contact the Elterngeldstelle and ask for the calculation. If you believe it is incorrect, you have one month to file a Widerspruch (formal objection). State clearly which figures you dispute and why. If you cannot pay the full amount immediately, you can usually arrange a payment plan.

Reporting changes: Once you have submitted your application, you are legally required to inform the Elterngeldstelle of any changes that affect your entitlement. This includes:

• •Starting to work more than 32 hours per week during a benefit month
• •Receiving additional income not declared in the application
• •A change in your residence or the child's residence
• •Your partner's situation changing in a way that affects the shared budget

Failure to report changes can result in repayment demands and, in serious cases, penalties under §60 SGB I.

Changing your month plan: You can modify your chosen months, switch between Basis and Plus, or add or remove Partnerschaftsbonus months, as long as the relevant life month of the child has not yet ended. Changes for months that have already passed are only possible in very limited circumstances.