Hi there,

I was just wondering if there is any child benefit or sth similar paid by government.If there is, what's the amount and who's entitled?
I will appreciate any help.

Cheers

Adzia

A little more information about your situation might help someone point you in the right direction. Biggest piece of missing information - where do you intend on living. I note your location says Ireland, so that's not much help. Other information - number of children, status (single mum? working partner? approx income) etc. etc. Don't expect a huge amount of help unless you can show some sort of disadvantage (will vary from canton to canton I think). But if you aren't in the country yet then I don't think you'll be disadvanted..

Are you asking in the UK sense of getting monies from the government on a regular basis? Or in the sense of a deduction/reduction on your taxes (a la the US)?

I know my in-laws got payments from some Swiss agency/branch of government for my husband and his brother when they were growing up (I don't know the word for it though, sorry).

I know that my husband's new employment paperwork has asked whether he has a child.

As to the qualifications, I don't know but would assume that to receive the payments in Switzerland at least one parent would need to be a citizen.

Hopefully someone else will come along soon with better information.

We get 200chf per month for our child, I believe once he is 16 it goes up to 250chf until he finishes his education.I don't know if he has to always be educated in CH for us to qualify for that though.
I only have one child so I don't know how it works for more than one child-sorry. My husband had to have proof that we had stopped getting payments from the UK.It has been dealt with through his company so I haven't any paperwork to let you know what it is called.He recieves this money with his salary.

He also gets an allowance because I am not working!!!

Hope this helps

This sounds like an arrangement made by his employer, not the government!

No, I have just checked his contract, we get;
13x200chf child allowance per child
13x120 family allowance
it also says you can't have tha family allowance if you don't get the child allowance so once the child allowance stops so does the family one.

Yes, but if this is written into his work contract, then this is a private arrangement. Unless the original poster comes to work for your husband's company, it won't help - sorry

thanks you guys for your replies,
Music Mole,.. I rather meant UK/Irish system when you get monies on regular basis..
Well as far as my situation is concerned,..we will probably live in Geneva area, 2 children (aged 3 and 4,5 ), and only my husband will work - at least from the beginning.
We are Polish nationality, so we are new EU memebers. We live in Ireland now, and we get child benefit.
However, as far as I know we will have to inform irish child benefit department about changing address and receiving monies from other country. Well,.. what is why I was thinking we would be entitled to something similar in Switzerland..

thanks a lot in advance.


cheers,

adzia

It is under the heading "Additional infomation in relation to employment in Basel"
I assume from that it maybe Canton related but I know that it is not a perk from the company. It also says;
"in accordance with the rules within the EU (EU Bilateral contract) ,these allowances will only be paid out in Switzerland. If your spouse does not work and/or if no child allowance is obtained in the country of residence (France/Germany)"

Adzia, the word in German is "Kinderzulage" so I googled it and found this site:

http://www.kinderzulagen.ch/

It says there is a vote on 26 November, but it doesn't say which year (my pet hate is people who write dates without considering WHEN they will be viewed), so I am going to guess it is this year.

Not sure if you can speak French, but there is a French version as well. It says the current situation varies from Canton to Canton and is currently 150 to 444 francs (my guess per month). In most places 160 to 190 francs (my guess is per month). It also says that the full amount is paid only to people working full time (possibly to cover child care).

According to page 2 of this PDF file [kinderlagen.ch] Geneva pays 200 per child up to 15 years of age. There also seems to be some indication that the employer may have to pay some or all of this - so rhodemi1's husband's company may in fact be paying this by law.

It says further information can be obtained from the AHV department in each canton (AHV is German, not sure what the French one is called).

In general you might find Switzerland to be a little less friendly than Ireland with respect to kids. Remember that you'll also have to pay health insurance for the kids, and this may wipe out any benefits you may receive from the government.

Hi rhodemi1,
I am not sure if I understand it properly. It looks like you will loose your allowance when you start working..?

Adzia

If I work then we will lose the family allowance but not the child allowance which for us will be paid up to sixteen or as long as a child is in education, but in no event longer than the age of 25!!
Like I say though, I don't know if that will continue to be paid if he goes to uni anywhere other than in Switzerland,having said that he is in an international school now so i don't know if it would make any difference.

thank you guys 4 your help and replies,
I will try to find it out, when contacting my husband's employer..
they have not mentioned anything about this .. but from the other hand we have never asked..
well..will let you know their answer...

cheers,

adzia

If you are moving to Züruch, there is also
http://www.svazurich.ch/index/index....ion&sprache=en (Zurich family allowance office, english).

It's easy to claim and the Swiss (well, Zurich) authorities are OK about it.
I know a couple of guys who claim for kids left in the UK from previous marriages - basically, you will get it and it is law.

IIRC, my old company here offered extra for kids born after a certain date.
Whether this is law or voluntary, I don't know.

Note: your tax code changes with having kids (here or previous marriage).
But it only changes if the SVA approve it. Direct source, Quellensteuer, changes for band B0 to B2 for married, 2 kids...

After all of that I forgot to mention that, it works out to be about half the amount we were getting in the UK.For you it may not be so bad as here they pay the same amount per child and not on a sliding scale.

HTH

I can't comment on that (no kids), but surely the tax reductions for being married and/or kids would offset the difference...?

Yes they do but it is always good to know these things whilst you are looking into moving to a new country. Actually after looking again it is closer than I first thought.That's what I get for trying to make breakfast,pack lunches,make sure my son has eveything for school and go on the computer at the same time! I should get my priorities right and get him to make his own food.

I process these payments as both an employer and employee and here is the story as I understand it:

There is a kind of child allowance paid in Switzerland. It is normally paid via your employer. The amount ranges from about CHF150 to CHF200 per month, I think, depending on the Canton in which your employer is located. You can only claim one allowance, so if both parents are working you must decide which parent should claim the allowance. As per usual there is some admin. to be done in making the claim - your employer will know what the procedure is. This is a state payment and so it is NOT part of your employment contract and is normally not mentioned in it.

From the employers point of view, he gets a letter from the AHV authorising him to make the payments. The employer's quarterly AHV invoice is reduced by the amount he has paid out in child allowance, so it does not cost the employer anything.

Best Regards,

Jim

Form here: http://www.svazurich.ch/pdf/ak3060.pdf

FYI: it's paid for by the employers FAK reduction

From my experience every year my employer gives me a form and I have to take this form and my Kids to the Geminde house where they sign it to say the children named on the form are resident in CH. After returning this for to my inployer I get the allowence paid dirrect into my salary.

DC