In Form 1 of the BAföG application, line 90 contains a short note that declarations made by the applicant for assets makes, if necessary via a data comparison with the Federal Office for Finance be checked. In the explanations of the form it is taken up again and even with a "Caution!" Mistake. But it is not explained further. But what does that mean in plain language?

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Laws and deadlines

Legislators have made the 1999 2000 / 2001 / 1 tax relief law. April1999 restricted banking secrecy. Since then, credit institutions have reported to the Federal Office of Finance not only - as before - whether exemption orders for capital gains have been granted, but quite concretely, what exactly was the exact exemption amount actually used.

This notification takes place annually at the latest at 31.Mai for the respective previous year. The BAföG offices also transmit their data to the Bundesamt für Finanzen, ie personal data of the BAföG recipients (name, address, date of birth, promotion number).

After a long time StreitThere is now a legal basis for this data transfer as to whether the authorities are actually allowed to do so.

What is being tested

The Federal Office of Finance is now checking how high the exemption amounts for investment income were that were granted to BAföG recipients - the so-called data comparison. The modern Technology make it possible.

It can also be checked the year before the first BAföG reference or even - in which case a suspicion should exist - back further. If this amount for the individual exemption amounts exceeds 100 Euro, the BAföG office becomes active.

Attention: The procedure varies from state to state and according to the BAföG Office: Some offices are already active with lower amounts, others only with exemption amounts far above 100 Euro.

How is it done?

The office now concludes the amount of this liberty from the amount of the property. If the list information with F 1 (your information on form 1 of the BAföG application) does not cover, the offices with the lists have a beginning suspicion. A hearing is held with the request for an opinion. This is the point. If it is established in the context of the hearing procedure that assets were already present in an earlier application, the calculation is also made retroactively.

In these cases, some federal states always assume the value of the origin asset for the subsequent BWZ and thus re-count the full assets. This is, however, not the case according to a Federal Administrative Court verdict. If, therefore, retroactive assets are invoiced, the assets invested in the relevant BWZ must be deducted from the asset.

The account data is queried

Since April 2005, the BAföG Office can also directly query the account data, if there is an initial suspicion. In this way, however, it is not possible to query the accounts and movements, for which further investigations are necessary, usually involving the BAföG applicant. However, the Office may be informed of the date of the account creation and dissolution, as well as the name and date of the authorized person.

In many cases, the BAföG recipients written to are below the tax-free allowance on the day of the application. But maybe interest was paid very well or you had more some time before you applied Money on the account. It should be possible to prove the former and hopefully there will still be evidence of larger purchases in the latter that proves that the money was not transferred to third parties.

ex gratia payments

First, to reassure you: most BAföG offices are very accommodating and do not tease out the following possible penalties by far, in almost all cases you only have to pay back the excess BAföG. In particular, if you behave cooperatively, the matter goes off lightly.

If it is provable that you did not know about the assets, nothing else will happen to you except the repayment, so far the experience. But if wealth was indeed concealed, this fulfills the offense of misdemeanor. Formally relevant for offenses of this kind is the §58 of the BAföG Act in connection with the Law on Administrative Offenses (OWiG).

Attention

It plays a crucial role, how much property was not specified and whether you acted deliberately, thus on purpose, or only negligently. But you have to prove that. Normally, unless intentionally concealed, so it is only a matter of negligence, the penalty will be a maximum of Euro 1250, or, in the case of intent, Euro 2500 at the most.

If it is only a small amount of money that you have not specified, the penalty is of course less appropriate. Possibly. you only have to pay back the excess of BAföG, there is no compulsion to punish. A punishment comes into consideration, if you have acted deliberately and it is many thousands of euros that you have concealed.

First aid

What can you do if you are noticed during the BAföG data comparison? The most important thing: keep calm. Even if cheating has really taken place, one should not hastily submit an admission of guilt or a self-disclosure without having informed oneself well and also a trustworthy legal person Consulting to have added!

Create an overview

A comprehensive overview of the (then) wealth is a sensible one. So, please inform your banks how much money was actually on the accounts on the day of the BAföG application.

If there should have been any debts, you should put together documents. If more time is required than was initially given in the Office's letter, then you will be asked to extend the period (two to three weeks are usually possible). It is also advisable to consult the BAföG Office.

Legal advice

It makes sense, too, to get comprehensive advice for each individual case: either through the social counseling of the (former) student representative or by a good lawyer. It is also possible to take legal action against the data reconciliation, because this is legally disputed because of the data protection problem.

However one acts thereby in case of doubt more trouble and higher Costs, e.g. for the lawyer, as if you simply pay back the overpaid BAföG - especially if you don't have to expect a major fine. In this way, the authorities are also placated. Because: Even if you win such a procedure, it is not at all for sure, which means that you can keep the BAföG.

Money you did not know about

If the assets have been invested in ignorance (eg over the grandma, aunt, parents, etc.), the offense is unlawful. You should pay back anyway. However, the granted order for exemption could become problematic.

But you can talk your way out of it, because there are asset allowances. But it also depends on the activities of the respective office. Not every office or everyone Employees will poke around until the end.

Shifted money?

If parents (or others) have partially transferred assets to your account in order to Taxes to save or to use favorable conditions of your account (and you have signed the exemption order), then there are several possibilities:

  1. Repayment of BAföG. At the same time, however, this is like a school-confinement, which could be disadvantageous for a later trial.
  2. When it came to tax savings: the parents show themselves and pay the taxes later. It should then be possible that the BAföG does not have to be repaid. However, it cannot be ruled out that the authorities assume that the parents are now only “taking back” the money in order to appreciate the child. This option has better chances if you really never knew about your assets (i.e. the parents signed the exemption order).
  3. If the money really was created only in trust (also hidden, without third party knowledge), then you should try to prove that.