![]() This step applies only if you are a business owner if you do not own a business – but have a freelance profession – skip to Step 2. Step 1: Visit the local Trade Office ( Gewerbeschein) to register your business and get a license.You have to visit the local Finanzamt to declare your freelance activity and register for freelancer tax in Germany. How to Register for Freelancer Tax in Germany? You must save this somewhere because you will need it for all your future logins. To make use of ELSTER, you have to register an account and will receive a Zertifikatsdatei, which is a digital signature. You can use ELSTER to submit annual income tax returns and declarations as well as your monthly or quarterly VAT returns without having to personally visit the local Finanzamt. What is the Elster Portal?ĮLSTER (which stands for Elektronische Steuer erklärung = electronic tax declaration) is an online tax system designed by the German Federal Central Tax Office ( Bundeszentralamt für Steuern). In addition to the Finanzamt, there is also the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt), which is the Federal Central Tax Office, a branch of the German Federal Ministry dealing with taxes on a national level. You also pay your income tax and value-added tax to your local Finanzamt office. You have to do this before you apply for the freelancer residence permit and before you are allowed to start working. When starting out as a freelancer, you have to go to your nearest Finanzamt office to declare your business or freelance activity and get your freelance tax number ( Steuernummer). There are over 600 Finanzamt offices across Germany. The Finanzamt is the German Tax Office responsible for tax collection, tax returns, and business registration on a local level. ![]() You submit your VAT returns digitally, through Finanzamt’s ELSTER tax portal.Įxemptions from VAT: If you make less than €22,000 in your first year and less than €50,000 in the second year, you are considered a “small business” ( Kleinunternehmer) and are not required to charge VAT to your clients. You have to submit your VAT return every month or quarter, depending on instructions from your local tax office. ![]() This process is called Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (Advance VAT return). Everyone who offers goods and services must charge VAT to their clients and then transfer this sum to the Finanzamt, including freelancers. In addition to income tax, freelancers in Germany also have to pay value-added tax (VAT), known as Umsatzsteuer in German. VAT in Germany for Self-Employed People and Freelancers In the following years, the prepayments are calculated on your earnings from the previous year. The Finanzamt will use this to calculate the amount of tax you have to pay in your quarterly pre-payments. ![]() ![]() When you register your business at the Finanzamt, you have to give an estimate of how much you think you will earn. How to know how much to pay in tax pre-payments?
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