Freelancing in Germany: the basics

Freelance or employed? How freelancing in Germany works: the tax office, false self-employment, health insurance and the freelance visa.

Some adverts on this site are for freelance work rather than a job. The work can look the same, but in Germany the paperwork, the insurance and the risks are quite different. This page is the overview.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Freelancing touches tax, social insurance and residence law at once. Before you start, talk to a tax adviser (Steuerberater).

Freelancer or trade: two kinds of self-employed

German law splits the self-employed into two groups, and the split decides your paperwork.

• Liberal professions — Freie Berufe. Work based on a special qualification or creative talent: among the listed professions are doctors, lawyers, tax advisers, architects, engineers, journalists, translators and interpreters.^[1] They do not register a trade and do not pay trade tax.^[1]
• A trade — Gewerbe. Most other business activity. You register the business at the local trade office (Gewerbeamt), which tells the tax office for you.^[2]

Whether your work counts as a liberal profession is not always obvious. A tax adviser can tell you which side of the line it is likely to fall.

Registering with the tax office

As a freelancer in a liberal profession you tell the tax office (Finanzamt) yourself, within one month of starting work.^[2] You do it with the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung — the tax registration questionnaire — sent online through ELSTER, the tax administration's portal.^[2] The tax office checks the new business and then gives you a tax number (Steuernummer) for your invoices.^[2]

VAT, and the small-business rule

If your turnover was no more than €25,000 in the previous year and stays no more than €100,000 in the current one, you can use the small-business rule — the Kleinunternehmerregelung. You then charge no VAT on your invoices, but you cannot reclaim VAT you pay either.^[3]

The rule is optional. If you opt out, you are bound to that choice for five calendar years.^[3]

False self-employment: Scheinselbstständigkeit

A contract that says "freelance" does not make the work freelance. What counts is how the work actually happens.^[4] The German Pension Insurance lists signs that point to employment instead:^[4]

• you must follow all of the client's instructions;
• you must keep set working hours;
• you must send detailed reports at regular intervals;
• you work on the client's premises or where the client decides;
• you must use the client's equipment or software, especially where it lets them monitor you.

If that describes your work, you may be an employee in all but name — false self-employment. Either side can ask for a ruling: the Clearingstelle of the German Pension Insurance decides, in the status determination procedure (Statusfeststellungsverfahren), from the real circumstances.^[4] If the work turns out to be employment, the client faces back payments of social insurance contributions.^[4]

Why it matters to you: you do not have to guess. You can ask for the ruling yourself, before the question is raised in an audit.^[4]

Health insurance

Health insurance is compulsory in Germany, and that includes freelancers.^[5] As a freelancer you can choose public or private insurance.^[1]

In public insurance, a freelancer is usually a voluntary member — and voluntary members pay the whole contribution themselves, with no employer half.^[6] Contributions are charged on at least a minimum income of €1,318.33 a month in 2026, even if you earn less.^[6] The health insurance guide explains how to choose an insurer.

Pension insurance: some freelancers must pay in

Some freelancers are required to pay into the state pension scheme: among them teachers, nurses, midwives, artists and publicists. They must register within three months of starting.^[1]

If you need a visa to freelance

If you are not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, freelancing needs its own residence permit — for liberal professions, under § 21(5) of the Residence Act. You have to show:^[7]

• enough money to finance your work;
• any licence your profession needs;
• if you are over 45, adequate provision for old age.

The permit is issued for up to three years at first. If the work succeeds and supports you and your family, you can extend it, and after three years apply for permanent settlement.^[7]

Not every permit allows freelancing on the side. If you hold a permit for employment — an EU Blue Card, for example — ask your foreigners authority before taking freelance work. The changing jobs guide covers the employment side.

Freelance adverts on this site

The adverts on our freelance list come from the employers' own job boards, like every other listing here. We describe what the advert says — including whether it asks for German — never the contract. Read the full advert, and ask the client how the work will actually be organised, before you agree to anything.

Where to check

• Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs: founders' portal, liberal professions (German)
• German Pension Insurance: recognising false self-employment (German)
• Make it in Germany: visa for self-employment, in English

Checked on 29 September 2026 against the sources below. The VAT thresholds and the minimum contribution change from time to time; check them before you rely on them.