According to the legal bases, every independent, lasting work is deemed as a trade or industrial enterprise
- which is undertaken with the intention of making a profit and
- which represents a share in general economic transactions,
- in as far as the work is not a part of the self-employed or freelance work or work in the agriculture and forestry industry.
The new establishment of a trade business must be notified to various offices as follows:
- Trade office
- Tax office
- Professional chambers
- District court
- Statistical reports
- Accident insurance associations
- Registration for employing staff
Our expert team will assist entrepreneurs to do all the above-mentioned registrations step by step. It should also be noted that, depending on the type of the business, goals, and capacity, some of the registrations may not be necessary. In the following more information are provided:
Trade office
The establishment of a trade business initially requires registration with the trade office. trade office is a part of the civic administration in which the trade business must introduce its registered office. After registering a business in Germany, the trade office notifies some of the offices listed in the following:
Tax office
Every trade business must be registered with the tax office. The tax office assigns a tax number to the entrepreneur after registration and usually sends him questionnaires where he has to provide information about his fiscal situation, as well as turnover and profit expectations. The tax office needs this information to be able to correctly classify the entrepreneur fiscally.
If an entrepreneur intends to import items from another member state of the European Union value-added tax-free, he also requires a so-called value added tax identification number. The value-added tax identification number is issued by the Federal Central Tax Office upon application.
Professional chambers
The various professional groups have their own professional chambers (e.g. Chamber of Trade, Chamber of Industry and Commerce). They look after the duties transferred to them by the state, and engage themselves for the interests of the respective professional group.
Without the admission from the respective chamber, the entrepreneur may not take up his work, registration is therefore mandatory.
Discrete court (commercial register)
Every trade business – with the exception of the small business persons – must be entered in the Register of Companies at the district court. The Register of Companies is a public register which keeps entries about all business persons in a certain district
Statistical reports
Businesses must file statistical reports to the statistical bureaus of the states and to the Federal Statistical Office.
Accident insurance association
It is also necessary to register with accident insurance associations responsible for the respective professional industry. The accident insurance associations are the institutions for the statutory accident insurance.
Additional registration duties when employing staff
In as far as staff is to be employed, it is also necessary to contact the local employment agency. The entrepreneur will be registered as employer with the agency and will receive a so-called business number.
In Germany the employees are obliged to regular membership in the social insurance system. The entrepreneur registers his employees for social insurance.
In Germany the employees are obliged to regular membership in the social insurance system. The entrepreneur registers his employees for social insurance.
The responsible contact partner is the statutory health insurance of the employee.
