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Mothers who meet all the conditions can request the aid from the Agencia Tributaria in person, by mail, over the phone 901 200 345. Once all the data are verified, tax authorities make the payment in the second half of each month by bank transfer. There is a telephone number for queries: 901 335 533.

The treasury department calculates the aid in proportion to the number of months in which all of those conditions are satisfied simultaneously. In other words, there may be mothers who only receive the aid for two years, say, if their child is already a year old.

In the event the mother dies, the father or legal guardian of a child, as long as they have full custody, retains the right to the assistance. This also applies in cases of adoption or sponsorship.

Working mothers in Catalonia have an extra reason to be happy. In addition to this aid, they will get a bonus of 525 euros a year for each child under three, and 600 euros a year per child under six if they have three or more kids. The deadline for applying for this aid is December 31st of this year. It aims to lend assistance to 190,000 families in Catalonia starting with their first child. The assistance is available to families with children under three, or relatives or guardians with such kids in their charge. Their date of birth must be from January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2003. Families with more than three children can apply for it if their children were born between January 1st, 1997 and December 31st, 2003, even if they have siblings already benefiting from the aid.

Divorced parents can fill out the aid form along with their divorce agreement. One highlight of the Catalan aid is that it's universal. It does not discriminate by income level, and is compatible with any other kind of government assistance, be it from the Catalan regional government or the central government.�

Meanwhile, the Treasury Ministry has asked the social security department and pension funds that make these payments to disclose tax and salary information from the recipients so as to monitor and manage payment of the aid. Thus, organizations providing social coverage must provide annual and monthly information about members in the first ten days of each month. The report should specify the type of shift put in by the employee; this is because those who work less than 50% of a normal day cannot ask for the payment up front on a monthly basis. They must also have paid into the social security system for at least 15 days of the month.

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