A piggy bank hung with a colorful string of lights
Finanzen & Recht
27.10.2025 Sabrina Ludwig 24289

How to protect your Christmas bonus from garnishment!

If you have financial problems and debts and have already had your wages or salary garnished, you can still look forward to receiving your employer's Christmas bonus. This is because the Christmas bonus is protected from garnishment up to 780 euros.
 

In summary: Protect your Christmas bonus from garnishment

Christmas bonus has been protected against garnishment up to 780 euros since July 2025. Employers pay out the protected amount automatically.

In the case of account seizures, the seizure protection on the P-account must be increased by application. Special payments at the end of the year are also protected if they are paid between November and January.

How high is the garnishment protection for Christmas bonuses?

The regulations are clear: Christmas bonuses are unattachable up to half of the monthly allowance in accordance with section 850c (1) no. 3 ZPO in conjunction with section 850c (4) no. 1 ZPO. Since July 1, 2025, this amount has been a maximum of EUR 780 (section 850c (1) no. 3 ZPO in conjunction with section 850c (4) no. 1 ZPO).

Note tax deductions for Christmas bonuses

You must bear this in mind: Taxes and social security contributions are deducted from the 780 euros.

Automatic payout and garnishment protection - what employers need to do

The employer must determine how much of the Christmas bonus is non-garnishable and transfer it to the employee with the salary. This happens automatically and the employee does not need to worry about anything.

If this does not happen automatically, the person concerned must initiate a clarifying discussion with their employer.

Do you have an account seizure? Then do so:

However, if you have an account attachment, you should urgently increase the amount that cannot be attached to the attachment protection account (P account) by the amount of the Christmas bonus.

Just because you have a P-account does not mean that the garnishment-free Christmas bonus is protected.

"This is because the protected basic amount and other already certified allowances will generally not be enough to secure the extra Christmas bonus," the consumer advice center points out on its website.

For this purpose, the debtor must file a corresponding application with the enforcement court of the place of residence, which is a division of the local court.

Sample letter: Additional release of the Christmas bonus for a P-account

A sample letter (additional release of the Christmas bonus for a P-account) can be easily downloaded from the consumer advice center:

Sample letter: Additional release of the Christmas bonus

When does garnishment protection also apply to special payments?

Important: The special remuneration paid out at the end of the year does not necessarily have to be called Christmas bonus or Christmas gratuity in order to receive the additional attachment protection. It is sufficient if the payment is made in connection with Christmas - i.e. between mid-November and mid-January of the following year.

Tips for those affected - act quickly!

Those affected should take action quickly, as the Christmas bonus is usually paid out with the November salary.

Help and contacts:in

If you have any questions or need assistance, affected employees whose company is a customer of pme Familienservice are welcome to contact the

pme income and budget counseling team
Angelika Heede
(specialist advisor)

Sources:

Consumer advice center

zero pme and Generation Ü: From retirement to working life

Retiree partial retirement
Leadership & HR
14.03.2024 Christin Müller 9518

pme and Generation Ü: From retirement to working life

By 2030, over eight million people will be of working age. Only around 5.5 million workers will join the labor market. Many companies are already feeling the effects of this huge skills gap. In order to anticipate this development at an early stage, the pme Familienservice Group is deliberately focusing on new ways of recruiting through a partnership with the "Generation Ü" job agency.

For some time now, pme Familienservice has been committed to keeping team members in employment - at their own request - after they retire. At the beginning of March, pme Familienservice launched a partnership with the job placement agency "Generation Ü", which helps to recruit people with extensive work experience. In future, the focus will be on more than 90 childcare and educational institutions across Germany.

Silver worker: From retirement to working life

At the 30 pme locations throughout Germany, Generation Ü will search for and place suitable "Üs" as a job placement service for retirement. Üs are women and men, generally between their late 50s and early 70s, who want to remain active towards the end of their working life or in retirement.

"Through the partnership with Generation Ü, pme Familienservice wants to focus even more strongly than before on the experience and motivation of older generations. This is an important component of our diversity strategy and should also help to counter the increasing shortage of skilled workers," says Alexa Ahmad, CEO of the pme Familienservice Group.

Who is Generation Ü?

Ü founder and former State Secretary Christian Ege says: "Generation Ü brings companies and Üs into contact and organizes the cooperation, hand-mediated and with an internal IT platform in which over 1200 Üs are currently registered".

Generation Ü offers SMEs and public employers in particular many advantages and credibility in the search, placement and recruitment of skilled workers over 55. Whether in the office, childcare, classroom, accounting, as a driver, in sales, production, technology or a doctor's surgery: the Üs fulfill many tasks and important projects reliably, with knowledge, drive and many years of experience in a wide variety of professions and areas. Just in a slightly different way than in conventional working life.