A draft law from the coalition parties of the CDU/CSU and SPD proposes that employers can pay out a tax-free bonus of up to 1,000 euros to employees, and this benefit would also be accessible to recipients of the proposed basic security benefits, provided they have earnings from paid employment. According to reports from “Welt” (Wednesday edition), this proposal is intended to be passed by the Bundestag. These basic security benefits are set to replace the Bürgergeld starting in July, legally corresponding to benefits under Book II of the Social Code (SGB II).
The draft specifies that employer payments made to employees as a relief bonus-in addition to their regular wages-up to €1,000 “shall not be considered income” for recipients of SGB II benefits. This means that recipients of basic security benefits could receive the bonus amount in full, without it being deducted from their state benefits or wages. The draft clarifies this point by stating that employees should receive these benefits in their entirety even if they are receiving SGB II allowances.
Experts from the CDU/CSU argue that this provision is based on sound reasoning. Fritz Güntzler (CDU), the union’s financial policy spokesperson in the Bundestag, noted that previous measures, such as the COVID-19 aid and the inflation compensation bonus, were structured similarly, suggesting that this development is not unexpected. He points out that if employers paid their staff an ad-hoc extra amount, the state could not simply cut that money from another area.
Similarly, officials from the SPD-led Ministry of Finance referenced the example of the inflation compensation bonus-the amount of up to €3,000 that could be paid out by businesses between 2022 and 2024, exempt from tax and social contributions. They also pointed out that even in that instance, the bonus was not counted as income when calculating supplementary benefits.
