Practical knowledge for entrepreneurs: invoicing, accounting and digital business processes made simple.
Taxes & Law
Anyone who supplies goods or invoices services without German VAT to business customers in other EU countries reports these sales to the German Federal Central Tax Office. Here you can find out who has to report, by when, what goes into the report and what happens if it is missing.
Taxes & Law
The USt-IdNr. (EU VAT ID) is a second number alongside the Steuernummer, meant for business with companies in other EU countries. You apply for it free of charge at the German Federal Central Tax Office and check your customer's number there too; here is how both work and how to find out whether you need one at all.
Taxes & Law
The GWG limit in Germany is €800 net in 2026, also under the small business scheme. Which purchases you deduct at once, when the pooled item pays off and how to book it.
Taxes & Law
If you also drive your company car privately, you pay tax on 1 percent of the list price every month. What comes on top, what the calculation looks like with figures and when a mileage logbook saves money.
Taxes & Law
A German mileage logbook only counts if every trip is recorded promptly and without gaps. Which details are required, what a filled-in logbook looks like and why Excel is not enough.
Taxes & Law
A German travel expense report has four parts: travel, hotel, meals and incidentals. What you claim for each part, which receipts you need and how to re-invoice travel costs to clients.
Taxes & Law
For every travel day, you deduct a fixed allowance without a single meal receipt. Which amount applies to which day, when the hotel breakfast changes things and what counts abroad.
Taxes & Law
You can work out the trade tax yourself in three steps. As a sole trader, you get most of it back through income tax — how much depends on your municipality's Hebesatz.
Taxes & Law
Whether you deduct a purchase at once or spread it over years depends on the net price. The AfA table says how many years — computers and software are the big exception.
Taxes & Law
Anyone advertising a discount in Germany must state the lowest price of the last 30 days – and calculate the percentage from it. What else must appear next to the price, when the RRP is allowed and how eBay, Amazon and Shopify handle it.
Taxes & Law
A German entertainment receipt needs five details: place, day, guests, reason and amount. Miss one and the deduction is gone — and since 2025 new rules apply to the restaurant bill.
Taxes & Law
If you run a business in Germany, you file an advance VAT return by the 10th day after each period. This article shows which cycle applies to you, when your next date falls and how to buy yourself an extra month.
Taxes & Law
Health insurance is compulsory, pension insurance only for certain trades, and every business must register with its employers' liability association. Everything else is your call. What a roofer, a programmer and a café owner really need – and the order to buy in when money is tight.
Taxes & Law
The fear of a huge back payment almost always targets the wrong person: your client owes the social security contributions, not you. What is really examined, what you actually risk – and how to get clarity without stirring things up.
Taxes & Law
As a rule, your Kleingewerbe does not have to enter the commercial register — German law sets no turnover threshold for it. What counts instead, what a voluntary entry gains you, what it costs every year, and what happens if you miss a duty.
Taxes & Law
You drop out of the Kleinunternehmer scheme and wait for a letter from the tax office. It never comes. Here is what you have to do yourself, in what order and by when.
Taxes & Law
A desk in the corner of your living room gets you nothing, and a walk-through room usually fails too. But if you have a separate room and do the defining part of your work there, you deduct the proportional rent, service charges and electricity in full. This guide covers the conditions, the cost list and the calculation with examples.
Taxes & Law
Service contracts, work contracts, maintenance contracts: the contracts you make with clients are valid without a signature – your customer can accept with a click. Only a few exceptions require a qualified electronic signature or paper, and those concern you as a business owner, not your client work.
Taxes & Law
The letter from the tax office is being phased out: from 2027 your German tax assessment lands in your ELSTER account – and counts as delivered on the fourth day, even if you never open it. What that means for your objection deadline and how to keep receiving paper.
Taxes & Law
The German tax number does not arrive on its own. You request it with the tax registration questionnaire, and that form only goes through ELSTER. How to get access today, how long the tax office takes, and how to invoice while the number is still missing.
Taxes & Law
From 12 August 2026 the core duties of the EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) apply. What online retailers must change for shipping boxes, fillers & labelling.
Taxes & Law
Article 50 of the EU AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026. The good news: you do not have to label the product description you wrote with ChatGPT. What the obligation really covers – 21 questions, each in a few sentences.
Taxes & Law
The filing deadline for 2025 expired on 31 July 2026. The good news first: you are not committing a criminal offence, and nothing happens on 1 August. Here is what actually comes, what it costs and what helps most now.
Taxes & Law
Under German law the withdrawal remains valid even if the goods were used – but you may make a deduction under two conditions. When value compensation is allowed, how much you may deduct, what applies to returns without notice, transport damage and unpaid parcels – and how to set up your withdrawal policy, terms and returns process so disputes never arise in the first place.
Taxes & Law
You sent a quote – now what? Whether a quote is binding, how long it stays valid, when you can withdraw it and what is allowed with cost estimates: answers to the questions that actually come up in practice.
Taxes & Law
Doing your own tax return as a self-employed person – without a tax adviser? This guide shows which schedules you need, how the EÜR and ELSTER work and what you can deduct.
Taxes & Law
Whether you're a freelancer or a trader in Germany isn't your choice – the tax office decides based on what you actually do. What that means for taxes and bookkeeping, and where the real grey areas are.
Taxes & Law
Registration, health insurance, income limits and taxes – what to sort out before you start a business alongside your job.
Taxes & Law
When does selling on eBay & co. count as commercial? The 2026 criteria, the big 30-sales myth and the stress-free path to registering a business.
Taxes & Law
eBay, Amazon & co. report sales to the tax office. We explain the 30-sales and 2,000-euro thresholds – and why a report doesn't mean a tax bill.
Taxes & Law
Many small self-employed people think they must issue e-invoices right now. Usually that's not true. The timeline, the thresholds and what really applies.
Taxes & Law
From 27 September 2026, online retailers must show an EU-harmonised legal-guarantee label, plus the „GARAN" label for a manufacturer guarantee. What to do – with examples.
Taxes & Law
Germany's Bundestag has passed the right to repair. From 31 July 2026 new duties apply to retailers – here's what to put in place before then.
Taxes & Law
In Germany, “Kleingewerbe" and “Kleinunternehmer" are constantly mixed up – yet they answer two completely different questions. Briefly and precisely explained.
Taxes & Law
Should I use the small-business scheme? The decision mainly depends on who your customers are. Five real-life examples, a concrete worked example and how to register – step by step.
Taxes & Law
Business registration and the tax registration questionnaire explained: who has to register, what it costs, how the ELSTER questionnaire works – and why your profit estimate decides your tax prepayments.
Taxes & Law
For the 2025 tax year the regular filing deadlines apply again: 31 July 2026 without an adviser, 1 March 2027 with a tax adviser. What applies to the self-employed, the small-business special case and what happens if you are late.
Taxes & Law
Since 19 June 2026 the withdrawal button under § 356a BGB is mandatory. What retailers may and may not do, how the button must work technically, and who carries the risk on marketplaces such as eBay or Otto.
Taxes & Law
From 27 September 2026, stricter EU-wide rules apply to environmental advertising. What the EmpCo Directive bans, what stays allowed, which information duties are new and what penalties apply – in brief.
Taxes & Law
On 9 December 2026 a new EU Product Liability Directive replaces Germany’s 1989 product liability act. It brings software and AI into scope, widens the circle of liable parties to importers, fulfilment service providers and platforms, eases the burden of proof for claimants and removes the liability cap. What online retailers and manufacturers should check now.
Taxes & Law
The EU abolishes the €150 duty-free threshold: from 1 July 2026 every low-cost parcel from China pays a €3 flat duty. What this means for competing with Temu & Co. – and what sellers with import supply chains should check now.
Taxes & Law
From 2 August 2026, AI content must be labeled — but not all of it. What the European Commission clarified on 8 May 2026, and what self-employed people and small businesses really need to do for chatbots and AI imagery.
Taxes & Law
From 19 June 2026 all German B2C online shops must offer a standardised cancellation button under the new § 356a BGB. Here is what changes, what fines you face and how to prepare.
Since February 2026 the GPSR is fully in force in Germany. Here's how Etsy, eBay and Amazon sellers add the mandatory product information to listings — and avoid suspensions and fines.
Contribution assessment ceiling, additional contribution and long-term care insurance all rise in 2026 — up to around 1,000 € more per year. What German self-employed need to know about the new GKV values, with a calculation example and three concrete levers.
Since 1 January 2026, retirees in Germany can earn 2,000 euros per month tax-free. The self-employed are excluded — here is how you can still benefit as an employer.
From 12 August 2026, new EU packaging rules apply. Domestic-only retailers get partial relief, while cross-border EU shipping brings new duties. Here is how to prepare.
With the Investment Booster 2026, self-employed persons can depreciate up to 30% using the declining balance method - e-vehicles at 75% in the first year. Practical guide to IAB and special depreciation.
E-invoicing obligation in practice: Obligation to receive since 2025, obligation to send from 2027/2028, permanent exceptions for low-value invoices, B2C and tickets - with a clear practical checklist for the self-employed and small businesses.
What the standard guides to the small business regulation 2026 often leave out: the hard €100,000 limit in practice, reverse charge when purchasing from other EU countries, the obligation to receive e-invoices and adding up several activities.