Extra payment under the child benefit scheme for children with extensive care needs
If your child lives at home and you have received child benefit at twice the basic rate for a full year from 1 January to 31 December because of your child’s extensive care needs, you may be able to get an extra payment. The extra payment is paid once a year.
You can no longer claim the extra payment under the child benefit scheme for 2023.
The amount of the extra payment
The extra payment under the child benefit scheme is a fixed amount. For 2024, the amount is €2,634.17. You can also get this amount once, even if you have more than 1 child with extensive care needs.
The government establishes the extra payment every year. The amount depends on the consumer price index (CPI ). The amount for 2024 is less than the amount for 2023.
What are the qualifying conditions?
You can qualify for an extra payment under the child benefit scheme if you have received child benefit at twice the basic rate for all 4 quarters of a calendar year, for a child who lives with you and needs extensive care.
We also take into account the income from work and whether you had a tax partner.
If you did not have a tax partner or you had a tax partner for only part of the year, we will not take your income into account.
Important: the conditions concerning income from work for tax partners changed with effect from 2023.
If you are married or in a registered partnership , you are each other’s ‘tax partner’. You can also be tax partners if you live together.
We will assess your situation to determine whether you and your partner are tax partners.
If you had a tax partner for the whole year, you may still qualify for the extra payment if:
- one tax partner’s income from work for 2024 was more than €6,073 gross; and
- the other tax partner had either no income from work or their income from work was no more than €6,073 gross
The income from work we take into account for the extra payment under the child benefit scheme is different from the ‘total income’ or the ‘registered income’ used by the Belastingdienst. For the extra payment, we look at the following income:
- wages or salary and any other income from paid employment which is subject to tax. You can find your total taxable income on your annual statement under ‘fiscaal loon’ or ‘loon voor de loonheffing’.
- taxable income from work as a freelancer, home help, performing artist or professional sportsperson
- profit from your company that is taxable
- payments you receive from a person’s personal care budget (PGB) because you provide care for that person
If you declare tax-deductible items such as travel expenses, entrepreneur’s allowances or the SME profit exemption, these will be deducted from your income from work.
Important: the following are not regarded as income from work: pensions, income support, AOW pension, Anw survivor benefit, orphan’s benefit, unemployment benefit (WW benefit), WIA incapacity benefit and Wajong incapacity benefits.
Claiming the extra payment under the child benefit scheme
You can no longer claim the extra payment under the child benefit scheme for 2023. If you wish to claim the extra payment for 2024, you can submit a claim as from mid-January 2025. We will send you a letter by mid-January 2025 with more information on how to claim the extra payment . You can submit your claim after you have received that letter.