Germany Grundsicherungsgeld (Bürgergeld) Calculator

About the Germany Grundsicherungsgeld (Bürgergeld) Calculator

Grundsicherungsgeld is Germany’s basic income support for people who can work but whose income does not cover what they and their household need. It has replaced the Bürgergeld under the Second Book of the Social Code (SGB II), and the Jobcenter pays it. The amount is the household’s needs — the Regelbedarf of each person, extra needs, and rent and heating — less the income the law counts: earnings after their allowances, other income, maintenance and child benefit.

This calculator works through those rules for your household: the Regelbedarfe by age, the extra needs for single parents, pregnancy and hot water, the rent and heating with the limits of the first year, the €100 basic allowance and the earnings allowance on what you earn, child benefit counted for the child who needs it, and the asset allowances by age. Without a Pro pass the result is a free preview: your monthly Grundsicherungsgeld in full, the first rows of the tables and the first step of the working; the other figures, the CSV, copying and printing unlock with the pass. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Common uses

• Check whether your household can get Grundsicherungsgeld, and roughly how much, before you apply at the Jobcenter.
• See how much of a new job or extra hours you would keep.
• Understand a Jobcenter notice (Bescheid): the needs, the housing costs and the income counted.
• Compare Grundsicherungsgeld with Wohngeld and the Kinderzuschlag for a working family.

How the amount is worked out

The household (the Bedarfsgemeinschaft: you, your partner and your unmarried children under 25 who live with you) has a need made of three parts: each person’s Regelbedarf, any extra needs (Mehrbedarfe), and the costs of housing and heating, which are shared equally by everyone in the flat. The income the law counts is taken away, and the rest is the Grundsicherungsgeld. A child whose own income — maintenance, Unterhaltsvorschuss and child benefit — covers their share is not needy, and child benefit they do not need counts as the parent’s income (§§ 9, 11, 19 SGB II).

The Regelbedarfe

The monthly amounts are set in the annex to § 28 SGB XII and applied by § 20 SGB II:

• €563 for a single adult or single parent (Regelbedarfsstufe 1);
• €506 for each partner of a couple (stufe 2);
• €451 for an adult child under 25 living with the parents (stufe 3);
• €471 for a child of 14 to 17, €390 for a child of 6 to 13 and €357 for a child under 6 (stufen 4 to 6).

Extra needs

§ 21 SGB II adds, among others: for a single parent, 36 % of €563 with a child under 7 or with two or three children under 16, or 12 % for each minor child when that is more, at most 60 %; 17 % of the woman’s Regelbedarf in pregnancy from the 13th week; and when hot water is heated in the flat, 2,3 % of an adult’s Regelbedarf, 1,4 % for a child of 14 to 17, 1,2 % for 6 to 13 and 0,8 % under 6. Extra needs for a disability, a costly diet for medical reasons or a special need in a single case are set by the Jobcenter; enter them as other extra needs.

Rent and heating

The Jobcenter pays the actual rent and heating as far as they are reasonable (§ 22 SGB II). In the first year of benefit (the Karenzzeit) it pays the actual rent, but not more than 1,5 times the local reasonable amount, unless in a single case the higher cost is unavoidable or the household has children. After that, a rent above the reasonable amount is paid only while it is not possible to bring it down, usually for up to six months. The reasonable amount depends on your town and household size; your Jobcenter tells you it.

What you keep of what you earn

From earnings the law first deducts tax and social insurance (what the payslip shows as net pay), then a basic allowance of €100, and then an earnings allowance on the gross pay: 20 % of the part from €100 to €520, 30 % from €520 to €1.000 and 10 % from €1.000 to €1.200, or to €1.500 with a child under 18 (§ 11b SGB II). So at most €348 of earnings is left out, or €378 with a child. From other income of an adult without earnings, €30 is left out for private insurance.

Assets

Assets count above an allowance for each person of the household by age: €5.000 up to the 30th birthday, €10.000 from it, €12.500 from the 40th and €20.000 from the 50th; an allowance one person does not use can be used by another (§ 12 SGB II). Household goods, a reasonable car for each person who can work, a house of up to 140 m² or a flat of up to 130 m² that you live in (more for larger households) and savings meant for retirement are left out.

Wohngeld and Kinderzuschlag come first

When Wohngeld, or Wohngeld with the Kinderzuschlag for families, would cover your household’s needs, the Jobcenter expects you to claim those instead. Check them with the Germany Wohngeld Calculator and the Germany Kindergeld and Kinderzuschlag Calculator.

Limitations

• An estimate under SGB II: your Jobcenter decides from your documents and may count costs or income differently.
• Children’s own earnings, self-employed income, income of students and trainees, and people of 25 or older in the flat outside your household are not modelled.
• Education and participation benefits (school trips, school supplies, lunches) and health insurance are paid on top and not included.
• Reductions for missed appointments or duties are not modelled.
• Rent counts as you enter it: whether it is reasonable for your town is decided by your Jobcenter.

Privacy

On this device: nothing is sent

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.