Earnings of a childminder
The earnings of a childminder depend on various factors. The decisive factor is, for example, whether she was placed by the responsible youth welfare office or is self-employed and how many children she looks after. Here you can get an overview of the earnings of a childminder.
Earnings of a childminder who is supported by the youth welfare office
The earnings of a childminder are either partly financed by the youth welfare offices or local authorities from public funds, or the parents of the children being cared for pay the childcare fee directly to the childminder. In the first case, the youth welfare office places the day children with the respective childminder and pays her the earnings. For this purpose, the youth welfare office calculates the parental contribution and receives it directly from the legal guardians. The earnings of the childminder are made up of the parental contribution and the services of the youth welfare office. These are for example:
- Material expenses: meals, consumption costs such as rent, water and electricity, toys, travel expenses
- Performance-related amount, taking into account the amount of time and the number of children cared for
- Contributions for accident insurance for childminders
- Half of the contribution for old-age security or pension insurance
- Half of the contribution for health and nursing care insurance for the childminder
Childminder: income from self-employment
The wages of the self-employed childminder are based on supply and demand. It can therefore fluctuate between 3 and 7 euros per hour and child. The Federal Association for Day Care e. V., however, proposes 5.50 euros as reasonable remuneration. For the childminder, all costs are included in this income, for example the costs for caring for the daycare child. The fees for the social security contributions are also included, as the childminder, as a self-employed worker, is obliged to pay into a statutory social security system, such as accident or pension insurance.
Childminder: Tax earnings?
The childminder has to pay tax on her earnings, whether paid privately by her parents or by the youth welfare office, as income from self-employment. Accordingly, she is obliged to submit an income tax return. The childminder must pay tax on the earnings that remain after deducting the operating expenses. These are, for example, expenses for:
- Food, equipment, toys, specialist literature, hygiene items
- Rent and operating costs of the premises used for childcare
- additional qualifications
- Contributions for insurance, insofar as these are directly related to the activity
- ride costs
- recreation
The flat-rate operating expenses are paid monthly for each child. With care for an average of eight hours a day, 300 euros per child per month are set. However, it is also possible to claim higher expenses instead of the lump sum. However, these must then be documented. A change between the operating expenses flat rate and the itemized statement is not permitted within one year.
In the tax return, the childminder can claim all pension expenses that belong to the limited deductible special expenses according to § 10 EStG:
- pension insurance
- life insurance
- Healthcare
- Liability and accident insurance can also be specified as special expenses, insofar as they are not reimbursed by the youth welfare office.
