Kita costs: How much does a daycare place cost?
The costs for the day-care center vary within Germany. They depend on where you live, your income and the number of children you have. You can find out how much the day care center costs and what discounts there are here.
Costs for the municipal day care center
The costs for a municipal day-care center are different in every community, as the facilities are financed 100 percent from public funds. The public funds are made up of grants of varying amounts from the federal government, the respective federal state and the responsible municipality.
In most municipalities, the daycare contributions are graded according to your income. This is not always the case, however, as not all municipalities are required to stagger contributions. In addition, in most cities you have to pay less for a daycare place for your second child thanks to the so-called “sibling discount”.
The costs for the municipal day-care center are made up of the care and food costs.
Childcare costs: You pay the childcare costs for the care of your child during the regular daycare opening hours. You have to pay an additional childcare fee if your child needs to be cared for outside of the regular opening hours.
Meal costs : You pay the meal share for your child if it takes part in the meals in the daycare center.
You can ask the management of your day-care center for an exact breakdown of the childcare and meal costs.
Calculation of the income for daycare costs
The daycare costs are to be paid when your child enters the daycare center. In order for the youth welfare office to be able to calculate the amount of the parental contribution, you must state and prove how high your income is. For the parental contribution, the income from…
- dependent work
- minor employment
- self-employment, commercial enterprise, agriculture and forestry
- capital assets, renting and leasing as well
- other income such as maintenance payments to your child , benefits according to SGB III, SGB II and SGB XII as well as according to the Employment Promotion Act. Benefits under the Social Security Act, such as sick pay, housing benefit, and pensions and benefits, also count as income. Child and education allowances are not taken into account.
For the calculation, the gross income of the past calendar year, including all special allowances such as Christmas and holiday bonuses, is usually required. If your current income has changed significantly compared to the previous calendar year, the youth welfare office takes twelve times your last monthly income into account for the calculation.
In some cities and federal states, attendance at the day-care center is free of charge. Among others, the day-care centers in Düsseldorf, Hanau, Heilbronn, Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Mainz and Salzgitter waive the collection of fees. In the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, all children from the age of two can attend the day-care center free of charge. However, if your child gets a meal in the day care center, you have to pay the meal costs every month.
Additional costs for the day care center
The day-care center costs can increase due to the proportion of meals, as well as a handicraft and material allowance. In addition, some facilities offer special offers, such as dance or music courses, for a fee.
Private daycare costs
The day-care center costs for private facilities are usually higher than those for municipal day-care centers because they are run by independent organizations. They finance themselves proportionately from public funds, sponsors, donations and membership fees. Well-known sponsors include the “German Red Cross” and parent initiatives. A private day-care center often charges a parental contribution that is independent of income. You can ask the management of the day-care center or the institution responsible for the facility for an exact breakdown of the costs.
Kita costs: discounts and tax breaks
If your family has a low income, you should definitely have it checked whether you are entitled to a reduction in daycare fees. In the case of low earners and recipients of unemployment benefit II or social assistance in particular, you can apply for the assumption or reduction of the care costs at the responsible youth welfare office.
You also have the option of deducting daycare costs from taxes . Every year you can claim up to two thirds of the childcare costs per child, but no more than 4,000 euros, in your tax return.
Assert daycare costs for maintenance claims
The day-care center costs can be claimed by single parents as an additional requirement under maintenance law. Those who are responsible for maintenance must therefore contribute to the parental contributions in addition to maintenance. Meals are not included in the calculation.
Both parents then pay daycare costs proportionately to their income. This means that the higher earning parent has to pay the larger share. If the parent providing care has only a very low income, he does not have to make any contribution himself. For example, a single mother with a 400 euro job would not have to contribute to the costs of the day-care center, as otherwise her own deductible of 1,000 euros would not be guaranteed.