What is the Anlage Kind?
The Anlage Kind is a section of the German income tax return. A separate Anlage Kind is created for every child who qualifies for tax purposes.
It contains personal information about your child, details about child benefit (Kindergeld), and other tax-related information. Based on these details, the tax office determines which child-related tax allowances and benefits you are entitled to.
💡 Good to know: In Accountable, you simply provide the relevant information about your child. The tax office will then determine which tax allowances and benefits you qualify for based on your complete income tax return.
Where can I find the "Children" section?
Once you indicate in your Personal details that you have children, the Children section will automatically appear in the navigation of your income tax return.
In this section you can:
Add one or more children
Enter your child's personal information
Add child benefit (Kindergeld)
Enter childcare and school expenses
Provide additional tax-relevant information
Note: You can add as many children as needed. Accountable automatically creates a separate Anlage Kind for each child.
Personal information about your child
For each child, you'll be asked to provide information such as:
First and last name
Date of birth
Tax Identification Number
Your relationship to the child (e.g. biological or adopted child)
Whether the child lived with you throughout the tax year
Information about the other parent
Note: Your child's age is calculated automatically based on their date of birth. The displayed age refers to the tax year for which you are filing your income tax return, not your child's current age.
Information about the other parent
If you are filing a joint tax return with your spouse, your spouse will already be selected automatically.
If the other parent is someone else, select "Other parent is another person" and enter their details.
Note: If you do not know the other parent's address, you can simply enter a placeholder, such as "A". A complete address is currently not required.
Child benefit (Kindergeld)
Please enter the child benefit that was actually paid during the relevant tax year.
For example, for your 2025 income tax return, only enter the child benefit you actually received in 2025.
Tax relief for single parents
If you are a single parent, you may be eligible for the tax relief amount for single parents (Entlastungsbetrag für Alleinerziehende), which can reduce your income tax.
Enable the option:
"I am a single parent and would like to claim this allowance."
Then enter the dates from which:
Your child lived in your household.
You received child benefit.
Note: Whether you qualify for this tax relief will be determined by the tax office based on your overall tax return.
Child allowances and maintenance payments (separate assessment)
If you are not filing a joint tax return with the other parent (separate assessment), you may need to provide additional information about child-related tax allowances or maintenance payments.
First, indicate whether any child-related tax allowances or maintenance payments apply to you for this child.
If you select "Yes", you can specify whether:
you want to claim the full Kinderfreibetrag (child tax allowance) and childcare allowance,
you want to claim the full childcare, education and training allowance (BEA allowance), or
maintenance payments were made for this child.
Claim the full Kinderfreibetrag and childcare allowance
You may apply for the full Kinderfreibetrag (child tax allowance) and childcare allowance if the other parent does not fulfil their legal child support obligation to a sufficient extent or is not required to pay child support due to a lack of financial means.
Example: If the other parent pays no child support, or only a small portion of the legally required amount, you can apply for the transfer of the full Kinderfreibetrag and childcare allowance. The tax office will determine whether you are eligible based on the information provided for your child.
Claim the full BEA allowance
You may also apply for the full childcare, education and training allowance (BEA allowance) if your child was not registered at the other parent's address during the relevant tax year or if the legal requirements for transferring the allowance are met.
The tax office will determine whether you are eligible based on the information provided for your child.
Maintenance payments
If you made maintenance payments to the other parent for this child, you can indicate this in this section.
Childcare costs
Here you can enter childcare expenses, for example:
Nursery or kindergarten
Childminder or babysitter
After-school care
Other childcare expenses
First select the appropriate type of childcare, then enter the provider, the care period and the costs incurred.
Note: If you paid for private tutoring, select "Other" as the childcare type and enter the costs there.
School fees
If you paid school fees for your child, you may be able to claim them under certain conditions.
Up to 30% of the school fees paid, with a maximum of €5,000 per child and tax year, can be claimed as special expenses.
Important: Only school fees paid to private or other non-public schools qualify. Fees paid to public schools cannot be entered here, as they are not tax-deductible under German tax law (§ 10 para. 1 no. 9 EStG).
The following costs cannot be claimed:
Accommodation
Childcare
Meals
Other ancillary costs
Children aged 18 to 25
Adult children may still qualify for tax benefits under certain conditions.
This section is only displayed if your child is between 18 and 25 years old during the relevant tax year.
Among other things, we will ask whether your child:
Is attending school, university or vocational training
Is registered as seeking work with the Employment Agency
Is completing a voluntary social or ecological year
Is between two stages of education or training
Note: Always enter only the period that falls within the relevant tax year.
For example, if you're filing your 2025 income tax return, only enter the period that applies during 2025 even if your child's education or training started in an earlier year.
Example for the 2025 tax return:
From: 01/01/2025
To: 31/12/2025
If your child's status changed during the year (for example, they started vocational training in September), enter the actual period within that tax year instead.
If your child is working
If your child has already completed their first vocational qualification or university degree and is also working, additional information is required.
Depending on the situation, indicate whether your child:
Has a mini-job
Works part-time
Works full-time
These details may affect whether your child can continue to be considered for tax purposes.
Children with disabilities
Support for children with disabilities is currently still under development and is therefore not yet available in Accountable.
Until this feature is available, please submit the relevant information via ELSTER or with the help of a tax advisor. 💜