Do you want to start self-employment in Germany? Learn how to register as a freelancer in Germany in this step-by-step guide.
Registration at Finanzamt allows you to send your clients the invoices or sell your goods and services legally. Before starting with any of these steps, make sure that you are already registered as a resident in Germany and have a bank account.
You should already hold a valid visa that allows you to take up gainful self-employment.
If your residence permit should explicitly permit gainful self-employment (Selbständige Tätigkeit gestattet).
Let’s break it down with this step by step to register as a freelancer in Germany.
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Step 1. Find Your German Tax ID
Also known as Steuer-ID (Tax ID) or Steueridentifikationsnummer (Tax ID number) or Identifikationsnummer (Identification Number).
Anyone and everyone in Germany- freelancer, business owner, or a salaried, or intern, need this number to be able to work, get paid & pay taxes according to their tax bracket.
According to the Federal Central Tax Office or Bundeszentralamt für Steuern,
- All individuals receive an 11-digit identification number to ensure their unique identification within the German tax system.
- The number will not change if you move home or marry.
- It will be attached to you for your whole life.
- It does not contain any information about you or the tax office responsible for your tax affairs.
This tax ID number comes in a XX XXX XXX XXX format.
You receive this tax ID automatically by snail mail roughly two weeks after registering your address for the first time in Germany. If you somehow misplace this number, you can request your German tax ID very conveniently through this online form.
Bear in mind that it’ll take a few weeks to process your tax ID. You can receive it in about four weeks or more to obtain the tax ID by post mail. Read more information about the tax ID here!
Once you have your Identifikationsnummer, you can start the process of registering as a freelancer in Germany.
Step 2. Apply For your German Tax Number
Your freelance tax number aka Steuernummer comes in a XX/XXX/XXXXX format. Only self-employed people and businesses need this tax number.
This procedure starts with the submission of a completed Tax Number Registration Form, called “Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung” at the Finanzamt of the city where you’re registered as a resident.
Step 2.1. Determine Your Responsible Finanzamt
You can search for your responsible Finanzamt by using the search terms ‘your city’ + Finanzamt. Usually, the first search result will be correct.
In the case of big cities, you may see multiple Finanzamt offices like ‘Finanzamt Nürnberg-Süd’, ‘Finanzamt Nürnberg-Nord’ and ‘Zentralfinanzamt Nürnberg’.
In such cases, just type in ‘your district + ‘zuständiges Finanzamt’. Sometimes typing in with your postcode can also lead you in the right direction.
Step 2.2. Determine Your Self-Employment Type
In Germany, self-employment is divided into certain categories and sub-categories.
Based on how you describe your profession in the registration form, your Finanzamt will recognise you either as a freelancer (Freiberufler) or a trader (Gewerbetreibender).
A freelancer is a self-employed person who practices one of the free professions (Freie Berufe).
Only certain professions are categorised as Freie Berufe in Germany. They are considered to be more elaborate and sophisticated services. These professionals are heavily regulated and one needs a license to practice them.
- Medical professions: e.g. doctor, dentist, physiotherapist
- Law and business counselling professions: e.g. tax counsellor, lawyer, notary
- Scientific-technical professions: e.g. chemist, engineer, architect
- Media and language professions: e.g. translator, interpreter, journalist
See the full list here (scroll to page 8)
If your profession is not listed in the catalogue professions, you may wanna take a look at the ‘similar (to) catalogue professions’ (Katalogähnliche Berufe or ähnliche Berufe).
They are called ähnliche Berufe because they are similar to the catalogue professions.
This means that the training or the concrete professional activity is comparable with a catalogue occupation. You can find the entire list of ähnliche Berufe in this list (scroll to page 9).
If you work in a profession that is categorised as a freelancing profession, you are a “Freiberufler” or freelancer.
As mentioned in our German self-employment visa post, making sure to register as self-employed in Germany correctly is very critical and can impact your freelancer taxes and yearly accounting when the time comes.
If you are unsure then read this post to determine what kind of self-employment you fit in – Freiberufler or Gewerbe?
Step 2.3. Determine If You Need a VAT Number (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer)
The Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer, USt-Identifikationsnummer or USt-IdNr. is the German term for the VAT number.
It’s a 9-digit number with the format DEXXXXXXXXX.
You can request a VAT number by filling in the Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung.
Generally speaking, if you create economic revenue by your work, you have to pay taxes. Income tax (Umsatzsteuer) is often unofficially called “Mehrwertsteuer” or “added value tax” in Germany.
As of January 2018, if your annual income is lower than 22,000 euros, you are classified as a small business owner and therefore will be exempt from VAT. This is called Kleinunternehmerregelung or small business regulation.
You will not get a VAT number if you declare yourself as a small business owner (Kleintunternehmer) since small businesses do not need to charge VAT.
Step 2.4. Fill up Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung
The most important step in this process is filling up the German Tax Number Registration Form, called “Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung” at the Finanzamt of the city where you’re registered as a resident.
There are three ways to fill out this German freelance tax registration form:
- Online on the website of Bundesministerium der Finanzen in German.
Note that, each session is valid for 45 minutes only. If you take longer than this, the form will refresh and you will lose all your data.
- Online on Accountable in English
This is a free freelancer tax registration service by Accountable. With this service, you can fill up Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung in English.
To fill this form completely in time, you should have some basic details ready.
- Your German tax ID number or Identifikationsnummer (again, not tax number or Steuernummer)
- Your personal details
- Your bank details
- An exact description of your future self-employment activity
- Financial details of your future self-employment activity
How to get help to fill Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung?
This form is only available in German. It can be difficult for foreigners to fill this up without adequate knowledge of business German. There are two ways to get help for filling this form:
- Download a line-by-line English guide to get an English translation of “Fragebogen zur Steuerlichen Erfassung”
- Use an online tool like Sorted or Accountable that lets you register your freelance business at Finanzamt for free and in English.
Step 3. Submit Your Self-Employment Registration Form to Finanzamt
Once you have completed this form, check and recheck the details to make sure you have added accurate info. Once done, you are now ready to submit your form to your responsible Finanzamt.
Make sure that you have your Finanzamt office correctly located.
You can deliver this form in person to the Finanzamt. No appointment is required for this, but make sure to check the opening times on the website. You can also mail this form to your responsible Finanzamt. Use registered mail for sending the form and all attachments.
You should receive your tax number (Steuernummer) and VAT number (Umsatzsteuernummer) by mail in about a month.
NOTE: Unlike your Identifikationsnummer, your Steuernummer is not permanent.
If you move your business to an area served by a different Finanzamt, you will need to get a new one Steuernummer. Which means, going through the same process all over again.
Have you ever registered as a freelancer in Germany? If yes, how was your experience? Was it complicated or a breeze? Let us know in the comments.