Becoming self-employed – full-time or part-time: Business registration when setting up a business

An Business start is not an insurmountable bureaucratic effort. We show the easiest way to your own company.

Don't be afraid to start a business

Many Peoplewho would like to become self-employed in Germany shy away from doing so because they Anxiety from the bureaucratic hurdles involved in registering a business.

But the all-clear can be given: The business registration is by no means rocket science. The most important information on how to register a trade correctly and which ones Ask during the registration process can appear in this article.

A trade does not have to be registered in every case of self-employment

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In Section 18 of the Income Tax Act (EstG) there is a list of different professions which, in the context of self-employment, involve income from freelance activities. These include professions such as dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, architects and journalists. Artistic or literary activities as well as agriculture and animal husbandry are also classified as liberal professions.

What is special about this is that these freelancers do not need to register their business and are therefore not notifiable for the trade register. Ultimately, the responsible tax office always decides whether self-employment is a freelance activity.

Most trades in Germany do not require a permit

In most cases, anyone who wants to become self-employed with a specific activity in this country does not have to meet any special requirements in terms of expertise. There is only one engagement to register a business. The basic requirements, such as legal age and legal capacity checked.

For individual trades, however, special requirements are required. This applies, for example, to skilled trades that require approval, for which a master’s degree or a comparable qualification is required for approval qualification is required. If the authority grants a corresponding permit, this is a so-called concession in technical jargon. Other trades that require a permit include:

• driving schools
• restaurants and arcades
• brokers and insurance intermediaries
• passenger and goods transport
• Care services
• trade in arms and ammunition
• trade in animals

Fill out the business registration form

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Anyone who starts to fill out the business registration form should think about it in advance the optimal choice of legal form have made. The form itself can either be filled out at the responsible office or online. Appropriate proof of identity in the form of an identity card or passport is also required for legitimation. Citizens coming from outside the European Union must also present a valid residence permit. Most of the data on the form is self-explanatory. The following hints will help you with a few fields:

• Field 10: The legal representatives and managing partners for the legal forms GbR, GmbH and UG must be fully specified here.
• Field 15: The description of the planned activity required here should be reasonably detailed. Simply writing “online shop” or “Amazon FBA” here is not sufficient.
• Field 18: If it is an e-commerce company or a stationary shop, "Trade" must be ticked here. Otherwise, there are corresponding fields for industrial and craft businesses. All other activities fall under “Other”.

Once the form has been completed, it can be emailed to the responsible authority or printed out and presented at the on-site appointment. Depending on the office arise Costs between 10 and 60 euros for the business registration.

Report to the tax office and health insurance company

After the form has been submitted, it is now time to inform the various authorities about the business registration.

This is important because registration involves different obligations. Entrepreneurs, unlike employees, are for their own Taxes responsible. This means that at the end of the year they must inform the tax office of how much they have earned as part of a tax return. As part of the business registration, the Form for tax registration fill out.

The next step is to inform your own statutory health insurance company about the step into self-employment. In most cases, a call is sufficient for this purpose, in which an estimate of the expected income is given and the contribution amounts and contribution payments are derived from this. The report to the health insurance company should be like this fast be done as possible so that there are no gaps in the Health insurance comes.

IHK registration only for traders

With the exception of freelancers, all self-employed people in Germany must also register as a member of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). The costs for this are between 30 and 75 euros for small businesses and between 150 and 300 euros per year for companies entered in the commercial register.

Registration usually takes place at the responsible trade office. Exactly which one is involved depends on the seat of the Company dependent.

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