Exempt income in Germany: what is fully or partly protected
Pick a type of income: the quick check says whether it is exempt, attachable like wages, attachable only in exceptional cases, or open only to a child claiming maintenance.
Child benefit
Attachable only for the child’s maintenance
Other creditors cannot reach child benefit (section 76 EStG, section 54(5) SGB I).
| Fully exempt | 4 |
| Attachable like wages | 3 |
Sources: sections 850a and 850b ZPO, section 54 SGB I, section 42(4) SGB II, section 76 EStG.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · 2026 table (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 80) and ZPO checked on 28 October 2026
Income is unpfändbar (exempt from garnishment) in Germany when a statute expressly removes it from enforcement. For wages, section 850a ZPO lists eight groups, including half of overtime pay, a customary holiday bonus and loyalty payments, expense allowances and danger or dirt allowances within customary limits, a Christmas bonus up to €795, birth and wedding grants, study grants, death benefits and the allowance for the blind. For social benefits, section 54(3) of Social Code I protects parental allowance (Elterngeld) up to €300 a month, maternity pay within the same limit, housing benefit (Wohngeld) and payments covering extra costs of a disability. The claim to Grundsicherungsgeld (basic income support, früher Bürgergeld) cannot be garnished at all under section 42(4) SGB II, and child benefit can only be reached by a child claiming maintenance (section 76 EStG). There are also conditionally attachable payments under section 850b ZPO, such as statutory maintenance you receive, which are garnished like wages only by exception. Example: of €300 overtime pay, €150 stays outside the garnishment. All other recurring income is garnished like earnings under the table.
Protected parts of your pay under section 850a ZPO
Before your employer looks up the garnishment table, it takes certain payments out of your net pay. Section 850a ZPO lists eight groups. The first concerns overtime: half of the pay for extra hours is exempt. The second covers holiday pay, bonuses for a special company event and loyalty payments, as far as they are customary. The third protects expense allowances, travel allowances, payment for work materials you provide, and danger, dirt and hardship allowances, again within customary limits.
The fourth group is the Christmas bonus, protected up to half of the rounded-up monthly basic exemption, so up to €795 in 2026. The fifth covers birth grants and grants for a marriage or civil partnership, unless the creditor is enforcing a debt arising from that very event. Then come education allowances and study grants, death and grace payments from employment, and finally the allowance for the blind. The small calculator shows how these deductions change your attachable net; more on Christmas and holiday pay is under bonus payments.
Net for the garnishment table
Net for the garnishment table
€2,450
| Half of the overtime pay | − €150 |
| Christmas bonus up to €795 | − €0 |
| Holiday bonus, expenses, allowances | − €0 |
| Attachable amount | €603.82 |
Maintenance creditors are the exception. When a child or former spouse garnishes for statutory maintenance, overtime, holiday pay and the Christmas bonus are in principle attachable under section 850d(1) ZPO; you must still keep at least half of the amount that would otherwise be exempt.
Conditionally attachable: section 850b ZPO
A second group starts out exempt but can be reached in individual cases. Section 850b ZPO covers pensions paid because of injury to body or health, statutory maintenance payments, ongoing income from foundations or from a third party’s care and generosity, payments from widows’, orphans’, relief and sickness funds made for support, and claims under a life insurance payable only on death up to €5,400. They become attachable like wages only if other enforcement fails and garnishment is fair. Before deciding, the enforcement court should hear the parties (section 850b(3) ZPO). You therefore get a chance to explain your situation before such a payment is touched.
Social benefits, child benefit and your account
Social benefits follow section 54 of Social Code I. Services and benefits in kind can never be garnished. Also exempt are parental allowance up to the amounts disregarded under section 10 BEEG, up to €300 a month, maternity pay within the same limit unless it stems from part-time work during parental leave, housing benefit except for claims under sections 9 and 10 of the Housing Benefit Act, and money for extra costs caused by a disability. The claim to Grundsicherungsgeld under Social Code II can be neither assigned nor garnished under section 42(4) SGB II. Child benefit is open only to a child garnishing for its statutory maintenance; see child benefit and garnishment.
All other recurring cash benefits, such as pensions, unemployment benefit or sickness benefit, are garnished like earnings. And exempt does not automatically mean protected in your account: once paid in, the money is part of your balance, and the P-account rules with their base amount and top-ups take over. How that works is described under account garnishment; individual social benefits are covered under social benefits and garnishment.