Gründungszuschuss and Einstiegsgeld: Which German start-up grant you get when you found a business while unemployed

You are unemployed and you have a business idea. Germany offers two pots of money, and only one of them applies to you. Which one comes down to a single question: which benefit are you receiving right now?

Which route is yours?

• You receive Arbeitslosengeld (unemployment insurance benefit): your office is the Agentur für Arbeit, and your grant is called Gründungszuschuss.
• You receive Grundsicherungsgeld (basic income support, called Bürgergeld until June 2026): your office is the Jobcenter, and your grant is called Einstiegsgeld.

There is no Gründungszuschuss from the Jobcenter, and no Einstiegsgeld from the Agentur für Arbeit. This mix-up costs many founders several weeks.

Both grants share one thing: they are discretionary. Nobody has a legal right to them, even when every condition is met. Your case worker decides.

The two grants compared

Gründungszuschuss: five steps

1. Book an appointment. Talk to your case worker before you register the business. The order matters: founding first and asking afterwards usually forfeits the claim. Check your remaining entitlement beforehand — the required 150 days are a good five months.

2. Gather your documents. You need a business plan, a capital requirement and financing plan, a turnover and profitability forecast, your CV and proof of your qualifications.

3. Obtain the expert statement. Chambers of industry and commerce, chambers of crafts, banks, tax advisers and professional associations issue it. Ask about the fee before you place the order — the range is wide, and your chamber is often the cheapest option.

4. Submit the application. The first phase is applied for online. Every step and form is on the Bundesagentur für Arbeit page on the Gründungszuschuss.

5. Apply for the second phase. The nine months of 300 euros do not arrive automatically. You file a separate application and prove that you work full time on the business.

How much money is that?

For the first six months you receive exactly what you last received as Arbeitslosengeld, plus 300 euros. At 1,200 euros of Arbeitslosengeld that is 1,500 euros a month, 9,000 euros in total. Add the second phase and another 2,700 euros follow.

One thing to be clear about: the grant replaces your Arbeitslosengeld, it does not come on top. Your unemployment benefit stops when your self-employment starts.

The grant does not depend on how well the business runs. Earn 3,000 euros in month three and nothing is cut.

Einstiegsgeld: the route through the Jobcenter

1. Appointment with your case worker. Same rule here: talk first, found second.

2. Prepare your documents. You need a CV, a business plan, a capital requirement and financing plan, and a turnover and profitability forecast covering three years.

3. Attend the consultation. The Jobcenter checks whether you are personally suited and whether the work is likely to make you independent of benefits.

4. Apply and wait for the decision. The steps are described on the Bundesagentur für Arbeit page on the Einstiegsgeld.

5. Your basic support continues. Einstiegsgeld comes on top of your ongoing benefit. It does not replace it.

Why is no amount published anywhere? Because the law does not set one. Amount and duration depend on your situation, for example how long you have been out of work and how many people live in your household.

Money for tools and machines

The Jobcenter can also fund equipment such as tools, machines or a computer. Grants are capped at 5,000 euros, and loans are possible beyond that. The condition: your business must be economically viable. The rule is set out in § 16c SGB II.

What you lose — and what you keep

Your remaining entitlement melts away. Every day of Gründungszuschuss costs you one day of Arbeitslosengeld. Start with 150 days left and take six months of the grant, and nothing remains. The start-up portal of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs explains this too.

Any remainder stays available for four years. If more days are left than you used, you can draw on them later. Four years after the entitlement arose it expires. Ask for your exact status in writing before you found.

You can return to Arbeitslosengeld as long as days remain. Give up the business, register as unemployed again and draw the days you have left. Once they are gone, or the four years have passed, a new entitlement only arises through new contribution periods. Self-employed people can insure themselves voluntarily against unemployment. The application is due no later than three months after starting the activity, and you must have been insured for at least twelve of the previous 30 months. Raise it during your consultation before the three months are gone.

Health insurance is now your bill. As a full-time self-employed person you insure yourself voluntarily in the statutory system or privately. For 2026 the statutory funds calculate with a minimum income of around 1,320 euros, which produces a minimum contribution of roughly 260 to 280 euros a month depending on your fund's supplementary rate. 300 euros of your Gründungszuschuss stay out of that calculation — ask your fund for your own figure before you budget.

No more job applications. When your full-time self-employment starts, your unemployment ends, and so does the duty to accept job offers. On Einstiegsgeld you stay in the benefit system and therefore in the agreements with your Jobcenter.

Tax, repayment, offsetting

The Gründungszuschuss is tax free. Unlike Arbeitslosengeld it does not raise the tax rate on your other income either. You only pay tax on the profit from your business.

Normally you do not repay it. If the business fails and you stop, the payments end. It is different if you gave false information or never started the activity at all.

Einstiegsgeld works differently. What you earn in the business is offset against your Grundsicherungsgeld. That is why the Jobcenter wants to see your income and expenses continuously. How that offsetting works in detail is covered in our article on topping up benefits as a self-employed person.

The business plan: what is actually required

No office expects 40 pages. What is required is a plan showing what you offer, who buys it, what you need for it and what you live on. Ten to fifteen pages is normal.

The part most people dread is the turnover and profitability forecast. It is an estimate, not a promise: you enter the income and costs you expect over the coming years. Stay sober about it — a forecast promising 200,000 euros in year one is spotted immediately by the expert body.

Free templates and examples are available from the federal start-up portal and from your chamber of industry or crafts. For subsidised advice, look at the federal funding database and at our overview of the BAFA consulting grant.

If your application is refused

You receive a written decision with reasons. You can object within one month, ideally with exactly the documents the decision lists as missing.

Often it is not the idea that fails but the profitability forecast or a thin expert statement. Ask which point was missing and supply it specifically.

After approval: what the offices want to see continuously

Approval is where the work starts that many underestimate.

The Jobcenter regularly requires a statement of your business income and expenses on Einstiegsgeld, first as an estimate, then with real figures at the end of the approval period. If the figures differ, it recalculates.

The tax office requires the Einnahmenüberschussrechnung once a year, the same figures in a different shape. Our article on the tax return for self-employed people explains the process.

Both want the same thing: every item of income, every expense, every receipt. Keep it up from your first invoice and it costs a few minutes a month. Postpone it and you sit in front of a shoebox when an office sets a deadline.

That is exactly what office1.cloud is built for: write invoices, record expenses, file receipts — and produce both statements at the end without retyping anything.

Short answers to the remaining questions

I have been given notice but am not unemployed yet. Can I apply already? You apply once you are receiving Arbeitslosengeld. You can have the consultation earlier, and that is a good idea.

I was already self-employed on the side. Does that count against me? No, as long as it stayed below 15 hours a week. You then move from part-time to full-time self-employment. Our article on part-time self-employment covers what to watch out for.

Do I get the grant for a very small business too? Yes. What counts is the scope of at least 15 hours a week, not the size or the legal form.

How long does processing take? Expect several weeks between application and decision. Your Arbeitslosengeld keeps running until the decision arrives.

What comes first: registering the business or applying? First the conversation with the office, then the registration. Our start-up guide explains how business registration and the tax registration questionnaire work.

Do I need a tax adviser? Not for the application. Many people manage the ongoing bookkeeping alone as long as the figures are captured cleanly from day one. As soon as cross-border VAT or staff enter the picture, get advice.

What other funding is there? Our article on funding for small businesses gives an overview of grants and loans.

Our offer for new founders: 12 months free

Anyone founding a business has no money to spare for software. So we give you the office1.cloud founder plan free for 12 months — full functionality, no credit card, and no automatic rollover into a paid subscription.

How to get in:

1. Create a free 10-day account. No payment details needed.
2. Send us your business registration or the confirmation from the tax office — either attached to a support ticket inside the platform or by email to support@peppertools.de. The document must be no more than 3 months old.
3. We convert your account to the founder plan. Your free year starts that day.

The offer applies to sign-ups until 28 February 2027.

What is included:

Purchase orders and role management for several employees are not included. In your first year you will rarely need either.

What happens after the 12 months: nothing is charged and nothing is deleted. Your documents, customers and reports stay available and can be exported at any time. If your business has grown by then, you move to a larger plan. That decision is yours, not ours.

The practical benefit in the context of this article: the statement the Jobcenter wants to see regularly and the Einnahmenüberschussrechnung for the tax office come from the same data. You record once and report twice.

This offer is voluntary. There is no legal entitlement to it, and we can change or end it at any time.

This article gives an overview as of August 2026 and does not replace individual advice. What you are actually entitled to is decided by your Agentur für Arbeit or your Jobcenter.