Self-employed people are also entitled to parental allowance (Elterngeld). To calculate the amount of the allowance, however, it is not the last twelve calendar months before the birth that count, but rather the last completed calendar year before the birth. You may work up to 30 hours per week while receiving a parental allowance. To do this, you must confirm in writing that you will adhere to the specified weekly hours. In addition, your parental allowance office (Elterngeldstelle) needs an approximate estimate of what income you expect to receive during the period in which you get a parental allowance. After this period, you must submit an income statement to the parental allowance office. You must then declare all the income you have earned during the parental allowance period. The age of your child is decisive for this. The best thing to do is contact the parental allowance office before your baby is born and ask for advice.
Pausing parental allowance (Elterngeld) for larger payments
It may also make sense to interrupt the receipt of parental allowance (Elterngeld). This is worth doing, for example, if you know you're going to get a large payment from a client at a certain time. In this case, you can pause the parental allowance for the month in question and won’t have to repay any of the allowance from other months. However, this is only possible under certain circumstances. The best way to find out which option is best for you is to contact your parental allowance office (Elterngeldstelle). In contrast to salaried employees, the calculation of your parental allowance as a self-employed person is not based on the last twelve months. Instead, the income in the last completed assessment period before the birth of your baby counts. As a rule, this is the preceding calendar year.
Both self-employed and salaried
If you are self-employed but receive part of your income from salaried employment, this is called mixed income. In this case, too, the calendar year before the birth of your child is decisive for the calculation of your parental allowance. In your application, you must show the amount of your income from self-employed work and from non-self-employed work. You must submit your income tax assessment from the Taxation Authority (Finanzamt) for this. This also applies if you no longer have a company in the year of your child’s birth or are no longer self-employed.
