Elterngeld Optimizer
Decide whether declaring a higher profit — and paying more income tax — pays for itself through higher Elterngeld.
Household
The two options
Depreciation is non-cash: the same money is in your account either way, only the taxable profit moves — and the write-off returns in a later year.
Insurance & leave
Children & Mutterschaftsgeld
Self-employed people only receive Mutterschaftsgeld after electing the Krankengeld entitlement, which raises the contribution rate by 0.6 pp and binds for years.
Saved scenarios
Declaring the higher profit of 24.470,36 € leaves you better off. You pay 3.286,00 € more income tax and gain 5.153,93 € more in benefits.
Side by side
| Lower profit 13.421,69 € | Higher profit 24.470,36 € | |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment year (Bemessungszeitraum) | ||
| Declared profit (Gewinn) | 13.421,69 € | 24.470,36 € |
| Elterngeld-Netto per month | 1.006,63 € | 1.698,36 € |
| Replacement rate | 67,0 % | 65,0 % |
| Income tax + SolZ | -9.408,00 € | -12.694,00 € |
| Refund (+) or back-payment (−) | -2.908,00 € | -6.194,00 € |
| Parental leave | ||
| Basiselterngeld per month | 674,44 € | 1.103,93 € |
| ElterngeldPlus per month | 337,22 € | 551,97 € |
| Elterngeld before crediting | 8.093,28 € | 13.247,21 € |
| Benefits received in total | 8.093,28 € | 13.247,21 € |
| Progressionsvorbehalt (§ 32b EStG) | -1.100,00 € | -1.700,00 € |
| Later relief on postponed write-offs | 0,00 € | 0,00 € |
| Net position across both years | 117.738,97 € | 119.006,90 € |
- Postponed write-offs are valued at zero. They are not lost — they lower a later year’s tax. Set a later-relief rate to count them.
File together or separately?
Splitting pulls towards a joint assessment whenever the two incomes differ a lot. Progressionsvorbehalt pulls the other way, because filing separately confines the rate increase from 13.247,21 € of tax-free benefits to the recipient’s own income.
| Together | Separately | |
|---|---|---|
| Parent on leave | — | 0,00 € |
| Partner | — | 10.394,00 € |
| Leave-year tax | 7.400,00 € | 10.394,00 € |
together: tax = 2 × T((own + partner) / 2) at the rate from (own + partner + benefits)
separately: tax = T(own) at the rate from (own + benefits)
+ T(partner) at its own rate — the benefits never touch it
Kinderfreibetrag: full under a joint assessment, half each when filing separately
(§ 32 Abs. 6 EStG)Where the optimum sits
Net position across both years for every declared profit between the two options, extended 30 % either side.
The reasoning & the equations
Elterngeld for a self-employed parent is derived from the profit of the last completed tax year before the birth (§ 2b Abs. 2 BEEG), not from the months right before it. That single year is what the write-off decision turns on.
1 · From profit to Elterngeld-Netto (§§ 2c–2f BEEG)
monthly gross = Gewinn / 12
= 24.470,36 € / 12 = 2.039,20 €
social deductions = monthly gross × 10 %
(§ 2f: 9 % health + 10 % pension + 2 % unemployment,
counted only where insurance is compulsory)
= 203,92 €
tax deductions = (ESt + SolZ) / 12
(§ 2e, Steuerklasse IV, after Vorsorgepauschale 4.175,74 €)
= 136,92 €
Elterngeld-Netto = 2.039,20 € − 203,92 € − 136,92 €
= 1.698,36 €2 · The replacement rate (§ 2 Abs. 2 BEEG)
netto < 1.000 € → 67 % + 0,1 pp per full 2 € below 1.000 €, up to 100 %
1.000–1.200 € → 67 %
netto > 1.200 € → 67 % − 0,1 pp per full 2 € above 1.200 €, down to 65 %
(the 65 % floor is reached at 1.240 €)
lower profit: netto 1.006,63 € → 67,0 %
higher profit: netto 1.698,36 € → 65,0 %This is why the gain flattens out. Past €1.240 of Elterngeld-Netto every additional euro is replaced at only 65 %, and past 2.770 € (§ 2 Abs. 1 Satz 3 BEEG) it is not replaced at all.
3 · The monthly amount (§ 2, § 2a, § 4a BEEG)
Basiselterngeld = clamp(rate × min(netto, 2.770 €) − net income during leave,
300 €, 1.800 €)
+ Geschwisterbonus (10 %, at least 75 €)
+ 300 € per further child of a multiple birth
ElterngeldPlus = clamp(Basiselterngeld / 2, 150 €, 900 €), for twice as many months
higher profit: 65,0 % × 1.698,36 € = 1.103,93 €
→ 1.103,93 € per month × 12 = 13.247,21 €5 · The cost side — and why it is smaller than it looks
extra income tax = tax(zvE_higher) − tax(zvE_lower)
= 12.694,00 € − 9.408,00 € = 3.286,00 €
married: tax(zvE) = 2 × T(zvE / 2) (Ehegattensplitting, § 32a Abs. 5 EStG)Depreciation elections are a timing difference, not a permanent one. Skipping a write-off this year does not destroy it — it lands in a later year instead. If that later year falls inside parental leave, when the marginal rate is low, the deduction is worth less then, which argues further for taking the profit now. The “later relief” input prices this in.
6 · Progressionsvorbehalt (§ 32b EStG)
special rate = tax(zvE + benefits) / (zvE + benefits)
tax due = special rate × zvE ← the benefits themselves stay tax-free
benefits = Elterngeld (Abs. 1 Nr. 1 Buchst. j) + Mutterschaftsgeld (Buchst. c)
= 13.247,21 €
higher profit: 5.700,00 € → 7.400,00 € (costs 1.700,00 €)Both Elterngeld and Mutterschaftsgeld are tax-free, but they lift the rate applied to every other euro the household earns in the leave year. With no other income in that year it costs nothing — which is exactly why a partner’s salary matters here, and why the joint-or-separate question above is worth checking.
7 · The bottom line
net position = base-year income after tax
+ Elterngeld after the § 3 BEEG credit + Mutterschaftsgeld
− extra health-insurance contributions
− leave-year tax (incl. Progressionsvorbehalt)
+ later relief on postponed write-offs
lower profit: 117.738,97 €
higher profit: 119.006,90 €
difference: 1.267,93 €The higher profit buys 5.153,93 € of extra Elterngeld for 3.286,00 € of extra income tax.
Sources
Every rule above is taken from the statute rather than a summary. The figures for 2025 and 2026 are hard-coded from these texts:
BEEG — Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz
- § 1 Abs. 8— the 175,000 € entitlement cut-off
- § 2— 67 % rate, the sliding scale, 300/1,800 €, the 2,770 € cap
- § 2a— Geschwisterbonus (+10 %, min. 75 €) and Mehrlingszuschlag (300 €)
- § 2b— the assessment period — the last completed tax year for the self-employed
- § 2c— employment income and the Arbeitnehmer-Pauschbetrag condition
- § 2d— profit taken from the Einkommensteuerbescheid
- § 2e— the tax deduction and Steuerklasse IV
- § 2f— the flat 9 % / 10 % / 2 % social-contribution deductions
- § 3— crediting Mutterschaftsgeld, and only from the day of birth
- § 4— 12 months plus 2 Partnermonate
- § 4a— ElterngeldPlus — half the amount, twice the duration, 150/900 €
EStG / SolZG — income tax
- § 32a EStG— the tariff formula and Ehegattensplitting
- § 32b EStG— Progressionsvorbehalt on Elterngeld and Mutterschaftsgeld
- § 31 EStG— the Günstigerprüfung between Kindergeld and Kinderfreibetrag
- § 32 Abs. 6 EStG— the Kinderfreibetrag and its split between parents
- § 51a Abs. 2a EStG— the SolZ always uses the Kinderfreibetrag base
- § 39b Abs. 2 EStG— the Vorsorgepauschale used inside the § 2e simulation
- § 9a EStG— the Arbeitnehmer-Pauschbetrag
- § 4 SolZG 1995— the Freigrenze and the 11.9 % Milderungszone
Social insurance
- § 24i SGB V— entitlement to Mutterschaftsgeld
- § 44 Abs. 2 SGB V— the Krankengeld election that self-employed people need
- § 47 SGB V— 70 % of the contributory income per calendar day
- § 3 MuSchG— the 6 weeks before and 8 (or 12) weeks after the birth
- § 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 SGB VI— why a Kindertagespflegeperson is compulsorily pension-insured
Kindertagespflege operating-expense flat rate (400 € per child per month): BMF-Schreiben vom 6.4.2023.