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Taxes and duties

There are a string of formalities associated with becoming self-employed especially at the beginning. This applies above all to fiscal matters which inevitably arise when setting up a company.

Tax offices

The registration process depends on whether you wish to carry out self-employed or commercial activities in the future.

You must register a commercial operation to the district administration in the location where you wish to open this. The district administration will then issue a corporation tax number and will inform the competent tax office.

If you are self-employed, you must yourself inform the competent tax office within four weeks of the nature of your work. The tax office of the area in which you will predominantly carry out the self-employment is responsible.

The tax office will then send you a questionnaire connected to the opening of the business operation, which you must answer in full and return to the tax office. On the basis of your answers, the tax office will determine whether and to what extent you must pay the advance tax payments. In addition, the tax office will check which tax declarations and advance registrations you must provide. You will find more information in the associated services. For concrete information, please contact your competent tax office.

Note: Tax offices may however not compete with tax consultants. There are no restrictions to asking questions regarding procedural law (e.g. deadlines). On the other hand, questions dealing with substantive law may generally only be answered by tax consultants.

Social security contributions

You are responsible for insuring yourself and organising the necessary insurance. Should you employ workers, you are obliged to deduct their income tax and social security contributions each month.

Release note

The German original version of this text was drafted in close cooperation with the relevant departments. The Finanzministerium, represented by the Oberfinanzdirektion Karlsruhe, released it on 29.08.2017. Only the German text is legally binding. The Federal State does not assume any liability for the translated texts.

In cases of doubt or if you have any questions or problems, please contact the relevant authorities directly.