Final subsidy settlement of the Künstlersozialkasse

Grants that you receive from the Künstlersozialkasse will be definitively accounted for in the following year.

As a self-employed professional artist or publisher, you are entitled to subsidies from the Künstlersozialkasse (Artists' Social Security Fund) under certain conditions. The subsidies cover the costs of your private or voluntary statutory health and long-term care insurance.

You may be entitled to these grants if you:

• are subject to compulsory insurance through the Künstlersozialkasse and
  • are exempt from compulsory statutory health and long-term care insurance or
  • no longer have access to statutory health insurance.

You will receive the grants monthly as a provisional grant. These are therefore installment payments toward the final grant.

After the end of a year, you will receive a final grant statement. It is based on:

• your actual contributions to your private or voluntary statutory health and long-term care insurance and
• where applicable, to your actual income.

The Artists' Social Security Fund compares the provisionally paid subsidies with the actual entitlement to subsidies. This can lead to additional payments or clawbacks.

If you fail to submit the information and documents on time, the Künstlersozialkasse will reclaim the subsidies paid provisionally. In addition, you will lose your current entitlement to the subsidy.

If you submit the documents subsequently, a delayed grant settlement is possible. In this case, you can receive a provisional monthly grant again.

The settlement of your provisional subsidy is possible if you provide proof of your final costs for private or voluntary statutory insurance. For this purpose, you will receive a letter with a questionnaire from the Künstlersozialkasse in April.

Note: If the Künstlersozialkasse has all the necessary information and documents, you can receive the settlement of the subsidy earlier. To do this, you must submit the information and documents correspondingly earlier. This is possible from January 1st of a given year for the expired year.

You can submit the required information and documents to the Artists' Social Security Fund either online or by post.

Online message: 

• Access the online form on the federal portal verwaltung.bund.de. This will guide you step by step through the necessary information, which you can enter electronically.
• Note: You need a valid ELSTER certificate to log in to the online form. Alternatively, you can use your electronic ID document.
• You will need approximately 15 minutes to complete the online application.
• First, enter your personal details, including your insurance number. You can find this in the top right corner of letters from the Künstlersozialkasse.
• On the next page, you will first receive general information on the topic of "Final calculation of the contribution subsidy".
• Please provide information regarding your entitlement to a subsidy and your actually paid contributions below, and upload the corresponding proofs.
• If you are not insured for a pension through the Künstlersozialkasse, you must also provide information on your actually earned annual labor income.
• You can also adjust your current monthly contributions if necessary and upload proof of the changed amount.

Notification by mail:

• Fill out the answer sheet for health and long-term care insurance expenses for the past year completely.
• If you have not received or do not yet have the answer sheet, an informal notification is also acceptable.
• When using the answer sheet, please observe all instructions that were sent to you along with the request.
• Check whether you need to send a certificate of the monthly contributions in addition to the total amounts.
  • If necessary, request this certificate from your insurance company. A corresponding note can be found in the letter from the Künstlersozialkasse.
• If you are asked for your final income, please also enter the values.
• Send the completed answer sheet or your informal notification with the attachments to the Künstlersozialkasse.

Upon receipt of the form, the answer sheet, or your notification, the Künstlersozialkasse will review your information and the attachments and perform the final settlement of your contribution subsidies for the previous year. You will receive the settlement from the Künstlersozialkasse by mail.

If there are any questions, the Künstlersozialkasse will contact you by mail.

The complete documents for the final grant settlement must be submitted by May 31 of the following year.

 There are no costs.

• Objection
  Detailed information on how to file an appeal can be found in the notification from the Künstlersozialkasse.