We get child benefit at home. Can we also get German Kindergeld?

Why two countries cannot both pay in full

When a family lives or works in two EU countries, EU law comes before national law. Regulations (EC) 883/2004 and 987/2009 decide which country's law applies and which country pays family benefits, so the same benefit is not paid twice.

The country that comes first pays its benefit in full. In the second country the claim is suspended (in German: es ruht) up to the amount the first country pays. If Germany is second, it pays only the part of 259 € that the home benefit does not cover. If the home benefit is higher, Germany pays nothing for that child.

The German top-up has several names: Differenzkindergeld in the Familienkasse leaflet, Kindergeldunterschiedsbetrag in the cross-border leaflet. The translated leaflets call it alocație pentru copii parțială (Romanian), частични детски надбавки (Bulgarian) and częściowy zasiłek na dziecko (Polish).

Which country pays first?

First, each parent is placed under one country's law. Normally that is the country where you work, employed or self-employed. Unemployment benefit counts as work while it is paid under that country's law. A parent who neither works nor gets unemployment benefit falls under the law of the country where they live.

Then the claims are ranked. First comes the country where someone works, then the country that pays a pension, then the country where someone only lives. If both claims rest on work, the country where the child lives comes first.

Examples: how much Germany adds

These examples show how the rules work. The Familienkasse makes the real decision and the real calculation, with the home office.

Romania: the alocația de stat pentru copii

The Romanian child benefit is the alocația de stat pentru copii, under Legea nr. 61/1993. An official opinion of Romania's Economic and Social Council of 20 May 2026 gives the current amount as 292 lei a month for children up to 18.

A proposal from April 2026 wants to cut it to 100 lei. The council gave a negative opinion, and no adoption has been found. Do not plan with the lower amount.

If your partner works in Romania, Romania pays the alocația first and Germany can add the difference. The Familienkasse converts the lei; we did not find which exchange rate it uses, so we do not show a euro amount here.

Bulgaria: the месечна помощ за дете

The Bulgarian monthly child allowance (месечна помощ за дете, чл. 7 ЗСПД) is paid by the Агенция за социално подпомагане (АСП) until the child finishes secondary school, at the latest until age 20.

It is income tested. The full amount is paid when the average monthly income over the last 12 months is up to 415.00 €, and 80 % from 415.01 € to 466.00 €. Some children get it whatever the income, for example children with a permanent disability.

Poland: 800 plus and German Kindergeld

800 plus (świadczenie wychowawcze) is 800 zł a month for every child until 18, without an income test. Since 1 June 2022 Poland pays it in full, whatever the EU order of priority says.

The Polish government also says that a benefit due in another country may be reduced by the Polish amounts. Its own example is a father working in Germany and a mother living with the child in Poland. How much Germany pays is decided by the Familienkasse. The German and the Polish texts put the weight differently, so nobody can promise you a result in advance.

In your 800 plus application at ZUS you must say that a parent works or lives abroad. If you do not, the 800 plus can be treated as unduly received (nienależnie pobrane). ZUS then sends the case to the urząd wojewódzki, which exchanges information with the German side.

Posted to Germany by a foreign employer? Read this first

A posted worker is sent by an employer abroad to do a set job in Germany. You usually have an A1 certificate. You normally stay under the law of the country that sent you, not under German law.

A court case shows what that can mean. The Finanzgericht Nürnberg (2 January 2025, 3 K 222/23) looked at a Romanian worker employed by a Polish company and posted to Germany with an A1. His partner did not work, and the two children lived in Romania with Romanian benefits. The court refused German Kindergeld: his German claim rested only on living in Germany, and EU law then excludes a difference payment. A case at the Bundesfinanzhof (III R 11/26) is listed; its result is not known.

The forms ask about postings: Anlage Kind point 7 c and the employer form KG 54. Answer truthfully. If you are posted, get advice from a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein or a Steuerberater before you apply.

What you must declare, and what happens if you do not

Anlage Kind point 6 asks about every child benefit from outside Germany in the last five years: who got it, which benefit, the monthly amount in euro, the period, the paying office and the file number. KG 51 point 3 asks the same for family benefits, and points 4 and 5 ask about work, breaks and pensions of both parents.

You do not need to bring a form from home. The two offices exchange the information themselves, and the procedure runs only between them. The Familienkasse also checks at least once a year with a questionnaire that its data matches the data abroad.

What to do now

Geldback asks who lives and works where, whether the employer is German or posted you, and which benefit is paid at home. It fills in KG 1, Anlage Kind and KG 51 to match, for a fixed 59 €. It does not decide or calculate who pays first, convert lei or zł, or deal with ZUS, АСП or the Romanian office, and it cannot yet help posted workers.

1. Write down for each parent: the country where they live, the country where they work (or get unemployment benefit or a pension), and whether an employer posted them with an A1.
2. Use the table above to see which country probably pays first.
3. In the German application, fill in Anlage Kind point 6 and KG 51 points 3 to 5 in full, with the monthly amount of the home benefit.
4. In Poland, state in the 800 plus application that a parent works or lives in Germany.
5. Do not stop or refuse the home benefit on your own. The offices agree between themselves who pays.
6. After the decision, report every change in work or residence straight away.