Child benefit PKV contributions are not counted

PKV Contributions of a parent to the child may not, according to a judgment, be credited as income to the child benefit basic allowance.

15/03/2011

According to a judgment of the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (FM), children whose parents finance the contributions of the private health insurance (PKV) in the form of coinsurance have a claim that the PKV contributions made are not counted towards the basic allowance.

The basic allowance for a child-entitled adult child, for example, is still in training, is 8004 euros per year. If this amount is exceeded by the child's own income, the entitlement to the child benefit expires. In the present case, the family fund had refused to continue to pay the child benefits because the father of the child took over the contributions of a private health insurance company (PKV). For this the father took a separate one „coinsurance rate“ of the insurance provider.

The family fund justified its attitude with the fact that the contributions for the health insurance exceeded the permissible basic allowance of the child. Consequently, the authority refused to continue to pay the child benefit. The cash register evaluated the payment of the contributions as income of the child. By adding the contribution, the daughter exceeded the statutory allowance. Against this the father complained before the financial court and got right (file reference: 4 K 10218/06 B).

According to the judges, the basic allowance is not reduced by the payment of the private health insurance by the father. The plaintiff had taken extra co-insurance in order to ensure health protection for the daughter. If the payment of the father's insurance contributions were credited, unequal treatment would arise. After all, parents who insure their children privately and make payments for them are burdened with maintenance in the same way as parents provide their children with funds for health insurance.

Since the child benefit fund does not accept the judgment, the representatives of the authority have requested a revision before the Federal Finance Court. The judgment is therefore not yet final. (Sb)

Picture: Gerd Altmann