German tax allowances for a child living in the UK

I'm hopeless with taxes so can anyone help me?

My son lives in England. He's 14, lives at the mo with his dad and I have to send money every month for him. I'm on tax class 1 (as a single person, no kids) but can I not get any kind of allowance for the fact that I have a child and I support him?

My kids live in Holland with their mother. I get kindergeld for them here in Germany. What I receive is the difference between the money my ex-wife gets for them in Holland and what I would receive if they were living in Germany, as the kindergeld in Holland is less than it is here. I seem to remember something about the fact that because I don't pay into the German state pension scheme, I couldn't get the full kindergeld, why that makes a difference I do not know. You should get in touch Arbeits amt -Familien kasse and they should send you the forms. You will however pay tax on any kindergeld you receive.

Have you got a Steuerberater? Perhaps there is some way of setting these payments against tax even if you can't change your tax class.

I can't be bothered to check, but when we applied for Kindergeld for our daughter a year ago, it was pretty explicit that the child had to be living with us. If the child isn't living with you, the government might pay the Kindergeld directly to the custodial parent, if s/he is living in Germany, but I don't think Kindergeld is paid out to non-custodial parties.

But do check with the tax authorities. There may be some other way you can set your child support payments against taxes here.