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> Go to your local citizen center (Bürgeramt), register for a "Gewerbeschein" as "Einzelunternehmer". It costs 35€ and then you're good to go and do business. T

> Go to your local citizen center (Bürgeramt), register for a "Gewerbeschein" as "Einzelunternehmer". It costs 35€ and then you're good to go and do business. Takes 10 minutes. Thanks for the tip. I'll try to look it up. As a quick question, do these two forms provide you the same liability protection as LLC? What about bookkeeping regulations? Is it any simpler than UG/GmbH? Simple that I can do it myself, with only a minimal help of Steuerberater?

Xylakant 13y ago
> Einzelunternehmer is not actually a legal form. It only means that you are a single entrepreneur/founder. > Gewerbeschein is not required in all cases, especially not for IT people. The final decision is with the tax administration. Your tax accountant can help you there. The general consensus is that if you can avoid it and be a regular freelancer, do so. In pretty much any case you need it if you form a UG or GmbH. Bookkeeping regulations depend partially on how much income you have. If you have less than 17 500 Euros income a year you can actually be VAT exempt which removes the need for a Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, but on the other end of the spectrum, you can have the full bookkeeping requirement similar the one that a GmbH has for a GbR if the GbR earns too much.
- WA 13y ago
  Sorry, I think I misread your post. Thanks for clarification. (Original content removed).
  - Xylakant 13y ago
    > This is NOT correct. As a GmbH, you have to do double accounting (doppelte Buchführung), whereas as Einzelunternehmer, you can go with a simple Einnahmen-Ausgaben-Rechnung, which is easier and also cheaper if you let a Steuerberater do it. This is not correct. The default case is Einnahmen-Überschuss-Rechnung, but if you surpass either 400k/year (or in some cases 600k per year) for two years, you're subject to double accounting even as Einzelunternehmer or GbR. The tax administration can even compel you to double accounting in other cases (like high earnings in a couple of month). I know, since our GbR was subject to double accounting. Sadly.

Xylakant 13y ago

> Einzelunternehmer is not actually a legal form. It only means that you are a single entrepreneur/founder. > Gewerbeschein is not required in all cases, especially not for IT people. The final decision is with the tax administration. Your tax accountant can help you there. The general consensus is that if you can avoid it and be a regular freelancer, do so. In pretty much any case you need it if you form a UG or GmbH. Bookkeeping regulations depend partially on how much income you have. If you have less than 17 500 Euros income a year you can actually be VAT exempt which removes the need for a Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, but on the other end of the spectrum, you can have the full bookkeeping requirement similar the one that a GmbH has for a GbR if the GbR earns too much.

WA 13y ago
Sorry, I think I misread your post. Thanks for clarification. (Original content removed).
- Xylakant 13y ago
  > This is NOT correct. As a GmbH, you have to do double accounting (doppelte Buchführung), whereas as Einzelunternehmer, you can go with a simple Einnahmen-Ausgaben-Rechnung, which is easier and also cheaper if you let a Steuerberater do it. This is not correct. The default case is Einnahmen-Überschuss-Rechnung, but if you surpass either 400k/year (or in some cases 600k per year) for two years, you're subject to double accounting even as Einzelunternehmer or GbR. The tax administration can even compel you to double accounting in other cases (like high earnings in a couple of month). I know, since our GbR was subject to double accounting. Sadly.