OUR ADVICE BRINGS YOU MONEY FROM THE STATE
In the news it is called “Eigenheimrente”. What it means: you save every month in a home savings contract (Bausparvertrag), and the state adds money every year. Up to €540 for you and €300 for each child.
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“Many people don’t even know this money is theirs. We explain it calmly and take care of the rest.”Marc A. Schnitzler, Managing Director
IN SHORT, WITHOUT JARGON
A normal home savings contract where the state saves with you. From 2027 new rules apply and the subsidies rise sharply.
Up to €540 a year for every adult who saves, from just €10 a month. €300 extra for each child, without paying in anything extra for the child. Every year, as long as you save.
Calculate your subsidy and register your interest. Your advisor will contact you, explain everything and make sure you are in from day one. We fill in the application together with you.
This is how much the state adds for you:
€5 a day is €150 a month. If you put aside less, you get proportionally less, starting from €10 a month. Example based on the new law from 1 January 2027.
WHAT DO I NEED IT FOR? WHAT DOES IT BRING ME?
Paying off a loan, saving for a deposit, modernising, or simply getting started. Nobody has to know today what life will look like in ten years. You still get the subsidy.
AI imageYour loan continues, whatever the bank. You save alongside it. When the remaining debt is small enough, you pay it off with your savings.
The subsidies count as equity when you finance. The savings go into buying or building your own home.
Work from €3,000 is possible, before it was €6,000. You can also use grants from the state funding banks KfW and BAFA.
If you buy after all, the savings go into the property. If you never buy, the money is not lost: you receive it in old age as an extra pension, part of it at once.
Under 25? You get a one-off €200 extra in the first year. Starting at 20 and buying at 28 works too: €150 a month adds up to about €18,900 of equity.
The state supports each of you separately. For that, each of you needs your own contract and pays in yourself. With only one contract you leave €540 a year on the table.
THE BASIC RULE
No extra payment for the child. This is what you get per year:
| You save | for you | per child |
|---|---|---|
| €10 | €60 | €120 |
| €25 | €150 | €300 |
| €50 | €240 | €300 |
| €100 | €390 | €300 |
| €150 | €540 | €300 |
Examples based on the law from 1 January 2027, without interest and without tax benefits. The child subsidy is paid as long as you receive child benefit (Kindergeld). Self-employed people can use all options too.
SUBSIDISED TWICE
Does your employer pay “vermögenswirksame Leistungen”, money for saving on top of your wages? Then a second, normal home savings contract is worth it. Both subsidies run side by side.
per year
per year
For €1,800 of your own money, about €3,160 a year lands in your contracts: €480 from your employer and €882.30 from the state.
The employee savings bonus (Arbeitnehmersparzulage) applies up to €40,000 taxable income (couples €80,000), the housing bonus (Wohnungsbauprämie) up to €35,000 (couples €70,000, bonus up to €140). Your taxable income is shown in your tax assessment. Your employer pays “vermögenswirksame Leistungen” if your employment or collective agreement provides for them. We help you ask.
THE HONEST ANSWER
No. The subsidies are yours as long as you use the money for your own home or your retirement. In old age you pay tax on it, like on any pension, usually at a low rate.
| If you … | Pay subsidies back? | What happens instead |
|---|---|---|
| … use the money to buy, build, repay or modernise | No | The amount is taxed over 5 years from retirement. |
| … never buy and take the money as a pension in old age | No | The pension is taxed in old age. |
| … switch provider or transfer the contract | No | You keep the subsidy. |
| … sell the property before the commitment ends or move out for good | No | The remaining amount is taxed at once, unless you buy a new home of your own within the deadlines. |
| … cancel and simply take the money out | Yes | The state reclaims the subsidies. |
| … have to repay all child benefit for a child | Yes, for that year | The child subsidy for that year goes back. |
Only people who cancel and use the money for something else, or who were not entitled, have to pay back.
Example life situation 1: the €26,400 are taxed over 5 years in old age, i.e. €5,280 a year. At a 20 % tax rate that is about €5,280 of tax in total, compared with €8,400 of subsidies. Our own illustration, not tax advice.
WHAT TO DO WHEN
There is no rush. But if you register now, you start in January without waiting.
Your advisor gets to know your situation. If your employer pays “vermögenswirksame Leistungen”, we also check whether you are entitled to the employee savings bonus or the housing bonus.
From now on the higher subsidies apply. If you start with the first instalment in January, you spread the yearly amount over twelve small instalments and get the subsidy for all of 2027.
The subsidy goes into your contract. From 2028 you can withdraw savings under the new rules for your home. If something changes, for example a child is born, we adjust it with you.
Do you already have a Riester contract? It continues as before. Important: if you take out a new subsidised contract from 2027, all your old contracts automatically switch to the new system. That is not good for everyone, for example with a very low income. So we calculate both options with you first.
YOUR SUBSIDY CHECK
Six questions to tap, no documents needed. Afterwards you know:
A PERSONAL WORD
Since 1985, this is all we do at INTERNA: we help families and employees get government subsidies. Many people have never heard of them, or the forms put them off. That is exactly why we are here.
Our advisors speak your language, come to you and take their time. They explain everything until it is clear. And they remain your contact, even years later.
Marc A. Schnitzler
Managing Director, INTERNA Vermittlungsgesellschaft für Bausparen und Finanzierungen mbH
FOR WHOM
You get €300 a year for each child, without paying in extra. From €25 a month the full child subsidy is included.
Restaurant, trade business or shop: from 2027 self-employed people without compulsory pension insurance are eligible too, with a tax return and up to age 67. The same goes for doctors, lawyers and other members of professional pension schemes.
With €30 a month you get €180 subsidy a year, half your contribution. Under 25, a one-off €200 extra.
The full subsidy no longer depends on your income. You are in from €10 a month.
FOR CAREFUL READERS
| What | Before | From 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Subsidy per person | €175 a year | up to €540 a year |
| Subsidy per child | €185 for children born before 2008, €300 from 2008 | up to €300 for every child |
| Who is eligible | Employees and self-employed people paying into the state pension, civil servants and some other groups | also self-employed people without compulsory pension insurance and members of professional pension schemes, up to age 67 |
| Own contribution | 4 out of every 100 euros of your income for the full subsidy | independent of income, from €10 a month |
| Tax in retirement | spread over 20 years, amount grows by 2 % a year | spread over 5 years, no yearly increase |
Source: German Federal Ministry of Finance, questions and answers on the reform of private pensions.
Yes. Have your subsidy calculated and register. We also check whether you are already entitled to the housing bonus or the employee savings bonus today. These run through a second, normal home savings contract.
Under the new rules from 1 January 2028. Then you can withdraw all your savings, for buying, building, modernising from €3,000 or paying off your loan.
Then you receive your savings in old age as monthly payments. You can take up to 30 % at once. You keep the subsidy.
Yes. If you withdraw savings for your home, you should live there until 5 years after your payouts start in old age, so until about 72 if they start at 67. After that you may sell or rent it out. If you move earlier and buy a new home of your own within the legal deadlines, you keep the subsidy. Otherwise the remaining amount is taxed at once. Even then you do not have to pay back the subsidies.
You can lower or pause your contribution. €10 a month is enough for the subsidy. Do not cancel: then the state reclaims the subsidies. Your advisor will find a solution with you.
Yes, with a second contract. The money from your employer and the housing bonus go into a normal home savings contract, your own contribution into the subsidised one. That way you use both subsidies.
It is paid for every year in which you receive child benefit (Kindergeld) for the child. After that your own subsidy remains.
No. We offer the subsidy only with a home savings contract, with a fixed interest rate and no market risk.
Contracts signed by 31 December 2026 keep the old rules. You can switch voluntarily. The switch is then permanent and applies to all your contracts. We calculate both options with you first.
Usually yes. Until now, €60 a year was enough for the full subsidy. People who earn very little and already have an old contract are sometimes better off with it. Your advisor checks this with you.
Yes, in retirement. The tax office keeps a separate account for your contract with your subsidised contributions and subsidies. From 2027 this amount is taxed over 5 instead of 20 years and no longer grows by 2 percent a year. We do not give tax advice. For your individual case, please ask your tax advisor.
Only if you cancel and use the money for something else. If you use it for your home or as a pension, the subsidies are yours. The overview “The honest answer” above shows all cases.
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This page uses images created with artificial intelligence. The portraits of Marc A. Schnitzler are based on real photos and were created with his consent. The family scenes are illustrations. Texts and translations were created with the help of artificial intelligence. The subsidy check calculates using fixed rules and makes no automated decisions about you. More about how we use AI
