Parents may also be eligible for child benefit for adult daughters and sons if they are under 25 years of age. To qualify, the child must, among other things, be enrolled in a unified initial vocational training program that constitutes their primary activity. The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has provided further clarification on what this entails.
If children of legal age have already earned a first degree in a training program governed by public law, entitlement to child benefit for a subsequent training program requires that this program still be part of a unified initial training program and that this program constitute the child’s primary activity. The BFH ruled that it is not sufficient if the child is merely pursuing continuing education while working, since in such cases the focus is already on the child’s employment and the additional educational program is pursued only on the side.
For adult children in training who have not yet reached the age of 25, entitlement to child benefit after completing initial vocational training or a first degree exists only if they are not engaged in gainful employment that regularly exceeds 20 hours per week. Multiple stages of training may also be combined into a single initial training program. However, this applies only if they are closely related in substance (such as the same occupational field) and are carried out in close temporal proximity. In the opinion of the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), however, such a single initial vocational training program is no longer considered to exist if the gainful employment taken up after completing the first vocational program already constitutes the child’s primary occupation and the subsequent training measures serve only for continuing education or career advancement within the profession already pursued. Nor did the BFH consider it detrimental that the second phase of training requires gainful employment as a prerequisite for completion.
In a similar case, the BFH also rejected the administrative view that a unified initial training program is only considered valid if all training measures are governed by public law.
BFH decisions of February 20, 2019 – III R 42/18 – and March 21, 2019 – III R 17/18
BFH on Multi-Stage Training
In a similar ruling, the BFH also clarified the distinction between multi-stage initial and secondary training: BFH, December 11, 2018 – III R 26/18.
