Child benefit at a click: When tax ID makes application obsolete

The Federal Cabinet wants to end the “red tape” after birth and anchor the “once-only principle” in government offices with the application-free child benefit. The centerpiece of the reform is a fully automated data exchange: As soon as a registry office reports a birth, the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) assigns a tax ID and proactively forwards it along with master data to the family benefits office. For the money to flow automatically from 2027, only an IBAN needs to be stored in the system – for example, through previous payments for siblings or a notification via the Elster portal.

Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) celebrates this as a breakthrough for 300,000 parent couples annually who will no longer need to submit an initial application in the future. Technically, this involves an expansion of interfaces between registration authorities, tax administration, and social security funds, which still need to be painstakingly synchronized by the 2027 launch date.

Behind the promised gain in convenience lies a profound shift in state data processing. The tax ID would thus finally transform from a pure fiscal tool into a universal personal identifier for social benefits.

Warning about the transparent citizen

The networking envisioned by the government is particularly critical: family benefits offices are to receive extended powers to automatically retrieve data from other authorities to check eligibility requirements in the background. The fact that the government is pushing for the deposit of account details in the central “IBAN+” database or with Elster for full convenience underscores the planned centralization of citizen data under the authority of the finance administration. The government speaks of efficiency, but critics warn of the gradual emergence of a “transparent citizen”.

The gradual implementation by 2027 also reveals the complexity of digital transformation: initially, only parents whose data is already circulating in the system will benefit. Full automation for first-borns is to follow months later. If automated comparisons fail, for example, for the self-employed or cross-border commuters, the previous procedure with QR code-supported, pre-filled applications will remain as a digital fallback.

The initiative makes it clear that the state is investing in digitalization. However, the price is increasingly close to digital surveillance via the tax ID and a centralized data structure.

(vbr)