Elterngeld-Rechner

Parental allowance is the wage-replacement benefit that lets you stay with your newborn without your bank account collapsing. The idea is simple: the state replaces part of the net income you give up. The execution is not, because between basic Elterngeld, ElterngeldPlus, partner months and bonus months there are more levers than in most German forms. This calculator pulls them for you.

Basic Elterngeld replaces between 65 and 100 percent of the net income you lose, depending on how much you earned, with a floor of 300 and a ceiling of 1,800 euros per month. The less you earned before, the higher the replacement rate - that is the social component of the BEEG. The calculator takes your average net income from the assessment period before the birth, applies the correct rate, and breaks down the monthly amount cleanly.

ElterngeldPlus is the clever option for anyone easing back into part-time work early. Instead of one month of basic Elterngeld you get two months of ElterngeldPlus, each capped at half. If you work alongside caring for the child, you often lose far less, because part-time earnings are offset more gently. The calculator compares both benefit types so you can see which route yields more money across the full benefit period.

There are also bonuses that are easy to miss. The sibling bonus raises your Elterngeld by 10 percent if an older child lives in the household. The multiple-birth supplement adds 300 euros per additional child for twins, triplets and more. The partnership bonus rewards you when both of you work part-time at the same time and share the care. The calculator factors these extras in automatically when they apply to you.

The real trick is the split. A couple has up to 14 months of basic Elterngeld together, but only if both take part - alone it is 12. Who takes which months, who goes part-time and when, when the partnership bonus kicks in: that ends up deciding several thousand euros. The built-in optimizer runs through combinations and shows you which split maximizes the total budget, without you having to fight through the parental benefit office's formulas.

Worth knowing: for employees the assessment period is usually the twelve calendar months before the month of the birth, and for the self-employed it is the last completed tax assessment year. Maternity benefit and the employer top-up are offset against the first months of life. The calculator flags these pitfalls so you avoid a nasty surprise at application time.

Everything runs directly in your browser. Your income data stays on your device, nothing is sent to a server, nothing is stored unless you want it to be. The calculator does not replace advice from the parental benefit office, but it gives you a solid figure and a feel for what is coming - long before the first application is filled in.