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Registering a business is quite simple. Visit the craft office – Gewerbeamt in your city or municipality and bring your identity card or passport, assuming you already have a registered residence in Germany.
You will fill in the documents and receive a payment slip for the registration of the trade, which ranges from €15 to €60, depending on where you are. The craft office will forward your documents to the tax administration in order to obtain a tax number.
The trade name is mostly your own name, with a description of the activity you plan to perform. You are free to use an existing name, but the logo must be unique. One of the graphic designers will create the logo for you, if you cannot do it yourself.
After 2.3 weeks, you will receive a form from the tax administration (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung), which is an assignment document (Umsatz Indentifikationsnummer), and this is the tax number that you print on every issued invoice, at the address you provided.
You will also have a query about the traffic you expect. Enter the minimum annual turnover amount of €17,500, due to flat tax collection.
You have started work, you need to start issuing invoices, but the tax administration has not yet notified you of your tax number? In the place where the tax number goes, write “Steuernummer folgt” as a note that you will submit the tax number later.
After you get the tax number, send a copy of the invoice with the tax number.
As long as you have no traffic, you have no obligation to pay pension insurance. Likewise, one day, the pension will be smaller.
You can request a tax number via the Elster tax site/app, “ELektronische STeuerERklärung”. The entire registration process takes about 3 weeks. Tax declarations for citizens or institutions are submitted through Elster.
Here you choose your own health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung), if you already have health insurance, you don’t have to do anything. For business health insurance, you pay per turnover. It is best to have your accountant make a monthly income tax assessment (Einkommensteuerbescheid), because at the end of the year you will not pay a large difference in the event of a large turnover.
To open an account, you need a trade certificate (Gewerbeschein) and residence certificate (Meldebestätigun). Open an account through which the trade will operate. Choose the bank with the lowest fee.
The first thing everyone in Germany will tell you is to find a good accountant. The accountant will do everything you need, but you are always responsible before the law!
The price of bookkeeping services ranges from at least €25-30 per month to several hundred euros per month.
(Handelskammern or Gewerbekammern), you pay a fee in the amount of 0.21% of your income. They will also send you a card on which the activities you can perform are written. You are required to be a member of the chamber and pay fees.
It is simpler to do business in Germany, because there is no fiscalization, billing is regular (about 30 days). Some banks have no fees. The inspection is announced and they send you all the papers they will ask for (if you operate according to the law). Forget about the financial agency (for Croatia) and its method of blocking accounts. Germany has over 84 million inhabitants and is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of GDP.
As long as you have no income in the trade, you have no obligation to pay pension insurance. Likewise, one day, the pension will be smaller.
Insure your business in case of damage. The entire policy of protection against liability, legal protection, property damage and other liabilities will not exceed €50 per month. Ask yourself what you need in relation to the work you do.
You pay sales tax (Gewerbesteuer) if your net income exceeds €24,500 at the end of the year. The date for submitting sales tax (Gewerbestueuererklarung) is 31.05. for last year.
Income tax (Einkommensteuer), this includes tax on income from trades and from spouses. How much you pay depends on the calculation. The date for submission of the income tax return (Einkommensteuererklarung) is 31.05. for last year.
VAT (Umsatzsteuer or Mehrwertsteuer) is calculated by the accountant at the end of the month and paid by the end customer. You just pay the tax difference.
Church tax (Kirchensteuer), you pay if you have registered that you are a believer.
Income tax on wages if you have another employee (Lohnsteuer).
You need to go to the trade office (Gewerbeamt) and report the closing of the trade with the date you specify.
Only through advertising and acquaintances will your business increase. Use social networks or visit places where our people gather (football clubs, churches, catering establishments that organize our parties).
When you make a new contract for your services, you do it through an offer, a purchase order, and issuing an invoice for your services, everything else leads to a gray area, for which you have no need. If you believe that you will cheat the government by paying less tax, then part of the customers who order your services will look to cheat you. Quite frequent cases of fraud by the client are when renovating an apartment or house.
If you still have questions or need help filling out the documentation, contact us via e-mail at the bottom of the page.