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Reporting requirements: Registration with the tax office and other startup formalities.

With picture It cannot be repeated often enough: In Germany, freedom of profession and trade prevails! In principle, you do not need an official blessing to carry out part-time teaching activities. It is often sufficient to inform the tax office about the start of your self-employed activity. In certain cases, other offices and authorities must be informed – sometimes also the employer. We list the most important notification requirements. With picture Many people are unsure whether they are simply allowed to work independently on the side. However, the legal situation is generally quite clear: Yes, you may! In principle, it is sufficient to notify the tax office of your plans ex officio. You can save yourself a visit to the Ordnungsamt and Gewerbeamt: You do not need a trade license for independent teaching activities. Before you tackle these and other start-up formalities, however, as an employee you should take a look at your employment contract. To be on the safe side, ask yourself: Do I have to inform my employer? Do I need his consent? Figure 1: Does my employer have to agree? First of all, as long as there is no conflict of interest between the employer and the employee, you shouldn’t get any gray hairs. The accountant who gives a guitar course at the adult education center, the programmer who works as an exercise instructor at the sports club after work, or the web designer who works as a tour guide on vacation and gets free room and board and pocket money in return – they all will hardly get into trouble with their bosses. If you get along well with your employer and your part-time job has no impact on your main job, you don’t need to worry: Just go for it! With picture Otherwise, the following applies: Let them know – yes; get approval – no. With picture Yes, it is generally possible to report sideline activities under employment law; no, there is usually no obligation to obtain approval. Provided, of course, that you adhere to the following rules: With picture

You do not compete with your competitionAssuming you are an employee of a tutoring institute in your main occupation – then of course you may not simply offer to give your students lessons outside your working hours on your own account. Even if you open up new clientele, you are competing with your boss. By doing so, you are in breach of your employee duties, even if this is not expressly stated in your employment contract.
The total working time of all full-time and part-time activities does not exceed the legally permissible regular working time of 48 hours per week. weekly working time of 48 hours.background: Your employer is not only entitled to a rested employee, but must also ensure compliance with employee protection in his company. This includes the Working Hours Act.
During vacation and during sick leave let your sideline activities come to a halt.Vacation is for the recovery of employees, in case of incapacity for work, you must make every effort to restore your ability to work as quickly as possible. If you use your “time off” to teach nonstop instead, you may be in violation of your employee duties.

For more detailed information on the reporting and approval obligations of part-time self-employed workers, see the “Reporting Obligations I” chapter of our comprehensive Part-Time Work Guide. This also deals with the situation of civil servants who wish to take up secondary employment. With Fig. 2. Reporting obligations of unemployed persons and welfare recipients Unemployed persons may also be self-employed. Only in the case of recipients of unemployment benefit I is the weekly working time limited to 15 hours (including preparation and follow-up time). Those who receive unemployment benefit II (“Hartz IV”) may, in principle, be self-employed for an unlimited period of time – provided this does not conflict with other requirements imposed by the basic welfare office. In the case of ALG II, self-employed income is even expressly desired, as it increases the chance of full reintegration into the labor market. In any case, however, unemployed persons and other recipients of social transfer benefits are obliged to report their additional income to the employment agency, the job center, the ARGE or other basic security office. All but a small portion of the earned income is offset against unemployment benefits. What to pay attention to and what remains under the line, you experience on the following sides of akademie.de:

“Self-employed additional income with ALG I”,
“Unemployed entrepreneur on time” and
“ALG II for the self-employed: offsetting and income calculation for self-employment”.

Please note: If you are unemployed and are thinking about becoming self-employed on a full-time basis in the near future and would like to receive the start-up grant from the employment agency, you should take a look at the chapter “Requirements for the start-up grant” in our information package “Starting a business from unemployment” and thus avoid any potential “funding damage”. Back to the general bureaucracy involved in the registration phase. Fortunately, this is limited in the case of self-employed teaching jobs: If you work full-time as a socially insured employee and are also offered a self-employed teaching position that will earn you a few hundred euros over the course of the year, you can even avoid the official tax office registration altogether. As long as it is merely a matter of individual trial balloons, it is sufficient if you inform the tax office of your ancillary “income from self-employment” on your next income tax return. However, if you can foresee that you will regularly have additional income from self-employed teaching jobs in the future, it is best to inform the tax office of this by telephone or in an informal letter. The tax office will then send you the eight-page “Questionnaire for the Tax Registration of a Trade or Freelance Activity”. There you provide information on

the type of profit calculation (small businesses: “income surplus calculation”),
if desired, on the waiver of sales tax exemption,
the expected turnover in the current and following calendar year,
the expected profit in the current and following calendar year, and
on the start-up or takeover of the business.

When doing so, feel free to state your sales and profit expectations with restraint. No one can demand that you correctly estimate your actual profit in advance. In the case of higher additional income, the quarterly advance income tax payments, which correspond to the wage tax for salaried employees, are based on the information you provide. With picture Speaking of taxes … In the chapter “Taxes and accounting”, you can find out which taxes apply to part-time self-employed teachers, trainers and lecturers and what the dreaded bookkeeping is all about. With Figure 4. Further reporting and information obligations Reporting to the tax office and, under certain circumstances, notifying the employer is usually all that is required when taking up self-employed teaching assignments. Over time, however, additional notifications and information may be required:

If you not only use your private apartment to prepare your lessons, but also give your lessons there and you indicate your business sideline on the mailbox or on the doorbell sign, it makes sense to inform the landlord.The landlord cannot prohibit you from publicly recognizable business activities without further ado. According to the Federal Court of Justice, he must “business activities of the tenant of a freelance or commercial nature, which appear to the outside” without a corresponding agreement in rented apartments. You can find more detailed information in the chapter “Do I have to ask my landlord?” in our information package “Part-time self-employed”.
You may also have certain information obligations towards customers and other business partners: For example, you must provide your first and last name, address, telephone number and (if available) e-mail address or fax number in your business correspondence and on websites. The details can be found in the articles
- “New information requirements and mandatory disclosures for service providers”,
- “Company and business name: naming rights for small businesses and the self-employed” and
- “Website imprint: Daring to leave a gap can be costly.”
The law does not require a separate business bank account. Your customers cannot tell that your bank account is a private checking account. There are no differences in payment transactions between private and business accounts either. Your bank will also not hold it against you if your account occasionally receives fees for teaching activities. However, as your business grows, it may make sense to keep private and business transactions separate. For more detailed information on this topic, see the article “Do founders and self-employed people even need a business account?”

However, don’t let yourself go crazy: You don’t need to think about all of these considerations until the aforementioned requirements are met or your business operation takes off. When you teach your first VHS course, you don’t need to worry about the “Service Information Ordinance” or other bureaucratic hurdles. The regulations to be observed when taking on part-time teaching assignments depend on how you primarily earn your living. For example, very different regulations apply to students, pensioners, the unemployed or civil servants. On the next page we provide a brief overview.

1. tax office: tax registration of your company

After registering with the Trade Licensing Office, the tax office will usually automatically send you a questionnaire for tax registration. Since you do not register with the trade office as a freelancer, please contact the tax office directly within 4 weeks of starting your business. The tax office will also issue you with the necessary tax number. If you want to sell or purchase goods or services within the European Union free of sales tax, you must apply for a sales tax identification number. This is issued by the Federal Central Tax Office. Contact details for the tax office in your area can be found here.

2. questionnaire for tax registration

Necessary information that the tax office asks from start-ups is a realistic estimate of future sales and profits – for this, use your financial plan that you have drawn up in the business plan. For small businesses and freelancers, the following rule of thumb applies: Operating revenue minus operating expenses equals profit (or loss). Calculate realistically to avoid larger back tax payments to the tax office in the following year. If there are any changes in your budgeted calculation in the course of your business activities, contact the tax office. On the basis of the questionnaire, the tax office classifies your activity for tax purposes, issues the tax number and determines the advance tax payments. For start-ups, this means that whether you are setting up a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation, the tax office is one of the most important points of contact for you when setting up a business. Support from a tax advisor is recommended.

3. tax office: tax prepayments

Tax prepayments are required by the tax office for income tax, corporate income tax, trade tax and sales tax. Except for sales tax, these are determined by the tax office. Advance payments of sales tax are made to the tax office as part of the monthly advance sales tax return (UStVA). With the permanent deadline extension, you can gain one month’s time for submitting the UStVA. As part of the tax return, the tax office then checks whether your actual tax burden was above or below the advance payments. As a result, the tax office may determine tax refunds or tax arrears.

4. tax number and sales tax identification number

The tax number is issued by the tax office to taxable entrepreneurs and companies upon initial contact. Under the tax number, the tax office manages all matters with the company. Which tax office issues the tax number depends on the location of the company. The tax number is a legally obligatory element and must be indicated by the trader each time he issues an invoice. Alternatively, the entrepreneur can also indicate his VAT number, which was introduced for cross-border EU trade. The VAT identification number, if available, must also be indicated in the imprint of a website. The tax number and the VAT identification number enable the taxpayer to be clearly identified. Entrepreneurs who do not yet have a VAT identification number can voluntarily apply for one from the Federal Central Tax Office in writing or online. However, the VAT identification number (abbreviated to USt.-IdNr.) is only mandatory for entrepreneurs who wish to participate in the intra-Community trade of goods within the EU. In addition, all entrepreneurs entitled to deduct input tax can apply for a VAT ID number. Another prerequisite for obtaining a VAT ID number is that the applicant is already registered for VAT purposes with a German tax office. Be sure to speak with a tax advisor to clarify matters with the tax office. You can find a tax consultant in your area in our service provider and consultant exchange.

5. addresses & links

To save you as a start-up the unnecessary search for the respective coordinates of your local tax office, we have compiled a list of the nationwide tax offices. Author: Für-Gründer.de Editor-in-Chief René Klein has been responsible for the content on the portal and all publications of Für-Gründer.de for over 10 years. He is a regular interviewee in other media and writes numerous external articles on start-up topics. Before his time as editor-in-chief and co-founder of Für-Gründer.de, he advised listed companies in the area of financial market communication.

Description

Companies and self-employed persons also have to take care of taxes during the start-up phase. Business registration is associated with tax registration. The following therefore applies in particular to self-employed freelance activities and their commencement. In order for the tax office to be able to classify you correctly for tax purposes, it requires certain information about your business or self-employed activity. This information must be provided in the “Questionnaire for Tax Registration”. You must complete and submit this questionnaire within one month without individual request from your local tax office. If you operate in the form of a sole proprietorship, a corporation, a cooperative or a partnership or community of persons, the questionnaire must be submitted electronically. With the help of this questionnaire, the tax office will determine, among other things,

what kind of taxes you have to pay
when you have to pay,
how much you are expected to pay.

The information you provide in the tax registration questionnaire is the basis for all correspondence concerning your business or self-employment with the tax office. You must also fill in the tax registration questionnaire if you want to work part-time.

Legal basis

§ Section 138 of the German Tax Code

Required documents

in case of representation: power of attorney to receive
for tax payment by direct debit: Completed SEPA mandate
in individual cases, further documents specified in the respective tax registration questionnaire

Requirements

You take on a

commercial,
self-employed (freelance) or
agricultural and forestry activity,

or you establish a

corporation,
corporation
partnership/association or an
association,

You participate in a partnership/association.
You do not operate your business as a hobby (no intention to make a profit).

Costs

none

Procedure

Regardless of whether you have to file a business registration or not (such as freelancers), the tax registration has to be done by yourself via ELSTER or a suitable software. Carry out tax registration online:

Log in to the website www.elster.de of the German tax administration with your ELSTER user account.
- Note: If you do not yet have an ELSTER user account, you must first create one. Registration involves several steps and can take up to two weeks. You also need the ELSTER user account to submit your tax return electronically. If you are only interested in submitting the questionnaire, you can also create a user account using an e-mail address.
Then select the option “All forms” under the tab “Forms & Services”. Then click on the tax registration questionnaire relevant to your trade or self-employment.
Complete the online form in its entirety and upload any required documentation. Submit the questionnaire.
The tax office will check your information and you may need to submit additional documents.
You will then be notified of your tax number in writing.

Note: There is currently no online procedure available for associations. Submit your tax registration in writing:

Download the respective tax registration questionnaire from the Federal Tax Administration website.
Fill out the questionnaire completely. Use the questionnaire to check whether the tax office requires any additional documents from you.
Send the questionnaire and any supporting documents to your tax office. The tax office will check your information and you may need to submit additional documents.
You will then receive a notice of your tax registration.

Submit tax registration online through the Single Point of Contact: The use of the possibility to submit the questionnaire online as a file via the Single Point of Contact. should only be considered in very exceptional cases, as no advantage of the route via the Single Point of Contact is seen in addition to the Tax Administration’s own online procedure.

Processing time

The processing time varies depending on the tax office responsible.

Deadlines

Tax filing: Usually within one month after you start the activity.

Note: In some cases, there are other deadlines, for example, when setting up abroad.

Forms

Forms: yes Online procedure possible: partially

Make tax registration online via “ELSTER
Download tax registration questionnaire

Written form requirement

Yes Personal appearance required: no

Further information

Instructions for the questionnaire for tax registration (sole proprietorship) on the “ELSTER” website of the German tax authorities
Instructions for the tax registration questionnaire for the formation of a corporation/cooperative on the website “ELSTER
Instructions for the questionnaire for tax registration in case of participation in a partnership/association on the website “ELSTER” of the German tax authorities

Competent office

Your local tax office. You can find the tax office responsible for your municipality using the search function of the Federal Central Tax Office.

Search for competent tax office on the website of the Federal Central Tax Office

Description

Companies and self-employed persons must also take care of taxes during the start-up phase. The business registration is connected with the tax registration. The following therefore applies in particular to self-employed freelance activities and their commencement. In order for the tax office to be able to classify you correctly for tax purposes, it requires certain information about your business or self-employed activity. This information must be provided in the “Questionnaire for Tax Registration”. You must complete and submit this questionnaire within one month without individual request from your local tax office. If you operate in the form of a sole proprietorship, a corporation, a cooperative or a partnership or community of persons, the questionnaire must be submitted electronically. With the help of this questionnaire, the tax office will determine, among other things,

what kind of taxes you have to pay
when you have to pay,
how much you are expected to pay.

Legal basis

§ Section 138 of the German Tax Code

Required documents

in case of representation: power of attorney to receive
for tax payment by direct debit: Completed SEPA mandate
in individual cases, further documents specified in the respective tax registration questionnaire

Requirements

You take on a

commercial,
self-employed (freelance) or
agricultural and forestry activity,

or you establish a

corporation,
corporation
partnership/association or an
association,

You participate in a partnership/association.
You do not operate your business as a hobby (no intention to make a profit).

Costs

none

Procedure

Regardless of whether you have to file a business registration or not (such as freelancers), the tax registration has to be done by yourself via ELSTER or a suitable software. Make tax registration online:

Log on to the website www.elster.de of the German tax administration with your ELSTER user account.
- Note: If you do not yet have an ELSTER user account, you must first create one. Registration involves several steps and can take up to two weeks. You also need the ELSTER user account for the electronic submission of your tax return. If you are only interested in submitting the questionnaire, you can also create a user account using an e-mail address.
Then select the option “All forms” under the tab “Forms & Services”. Then click on the tax registration questionnaire relevant to your trade or self-employment.
Complete the online form in its entirety and upload any required documentation. Submit the questionnaire.
The tax office will check your information and you may need to submit additional documents.
You will then be notified of your tax number in writing.

Note: There is currently no online procedure available for associations. Submit your tax registration in writing:

Download the respective tax registration questionnaire from the Federal Tax Administration website.
Fill out the questionnaire completely. Use the questionnaire to check whether the tax office requires any additional documents from you.
Send the questionnaire and any supporting documents to your tax office. The tax office will check your information and you may need to submit additional documents.
You will then receive a notice of your tax registration.

Processing time

The processing time varies depending on the tax office responsible.

Deadlines

Tax filing: Usually within one month after you start the activity.

Note: In some cases, there are other deadlines, for example, when setting up abroad.

Forms

Forms: yes Online procedure possible: partially

Make tax registration online via “ELSTER
Download tax registration questionnaire

Written form requirement

Yes Personal appearance required: no

Further information

Instructions for the questionnaire for tax registration (sole proprietorship) on the “ELSTER” website of the German tax authorities
Instructions for the tax registration questionnaire for the formation of a corporation/cooperative on the website “ELSTER
Instructions for the questionnaire for tax registration in case of participation in a partnership/association on the website “ELSTER” of the German tax authorities.

Competent office

Your local tax office. You can find the tax office responsible for your municipality using the search function of the Federal Central Tax Office.

Search for competent tax office on the website of the Federal Central Tax Office

Publication

Internal Revenue Service Login.

Anna Hein

Internal Revenue Service Login