Start for free

Home / Practical guides / Freelancing in Germany? Put these dates in your calendar!

Freelancing in Germany? Put these dates in your calendar!

tax tips

Written by: Sophia Merzbach

Updated on: April 27, 2023

Reading time: 4 minutes

Logo RB
While being self-employed comes with a tonne of perks like the flexibility to work anywhere, manage your own schedule, and choose and refuse projects as you wish, it also comes with a lot of responsibility. Aside from juggling client deadlines, there are a number of key tax deadlines that you need to keep in mind if you want to avoid getting snowed under by an avalanche of confusing letters and late fees from the tax office.  When freelancing in Germany, it’s key to have an understanding of what you need to report, how much you need to pay, and when. Nobody likes paying a tax bill that they don’t understand, so bookmark this page and get familiar with the topics and dates below and you’ll be on your way to minimising the stress and becoming a successful, self-employed professional in Germany. 

Registering as a freelancer in Germany

Assuming you’re already permitted to live and work in Germany, the first task you need to tick off is registering as a freelancer with your local tax office and receiving your freelance tax number. Note that registering as a freelancer is different to registering as living in Germany. While there’s no set deadline or timeframe with which you need to do this, you won’t be able to properly invoice your clients without this tax number, and you won’t be able to file your tax return or claim any expenses. To register as a freelancer, you need to complete and submit a tax number registration form, or “Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung” to your local tax office. 

Filing and paying taxes as a freelancer in Germany

The tax period

The annual tax period and financial year in Germany is from January 1 to December 31st each year.

VAT reporting and payment

If your income from freelancing is above 22,000€ a year (or if you’ve estimated that it will be) it is subject to VAT (Value Added Tax) or “Umsatzsteuer” and you must charge and receive VAT on the goods and services that you provide and invoice for. You’re also obliged to report the amount of VAT that you receive and pay this amount on to the tax office. On the plus side, you can also claim VAT on expenses you’ve paid as part of your freelance operations.

Reporting VAT

The first step is the advanced reporting of your VAT income, or “Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung”. Some freelancers are required to do this monthly, others must do it quarterly, and in some cases, it’s only required annually. If you’re unclear, it’s best to call or drop into your local tax office to check. Contrary to their reputation, Finanzamt workers are often friendly and helpful (especially if you speak German!). In order to avoid fines for late reporting, you must file your VAT earnings report by the 10th day of the month that follows the reporting period. For example, if you report your VAT quarterly, your first deadline for the year will be April 10th, for the period of January 1st through to March 31st.  How and when: Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung for freelancers 2020

Nil VAT return

In some cases, you won’t be obliged to charge VAT on the work that you do. If you haven’t had to charge any VAT for a particular period, you still need to declare your VAT earnings of nil, and the deadline for reporting is the same.

Annual VAT summary

In addition to the advanced reporting of VAT, you need to file an annual VAT summary that confirms the total amount of VAT that you charged throughout the tax year. This is due by July 31st of the following year. 

Paying VAT

You must also pay the VAT amount that you’ve reported directly to the tax office. Payment of VAT is due on the same day of reporting, ie. the 10th day of the month following the reporting period. 

Income tax return 

Just like anybody else who generates an income through working in Germany, as a freelancer you must file an income tax return or “Einkommensteuererklärung” each year – as long as you’ve earned over 9.744€ (as of 2021). Your income tax return is due by July 31st of the following year.

Advanced payments

In some cases, the tax office will request that you make income tax payments in advance. It may take one or two years of freelancing before the tax office makes a calculation of how much tax you’re likely to owe and asks you to pay in advance, and these payments are usually made quarterly. While it may not sound like much fun, paying taxes in advance can be much easier for your cash flow than to be hit with one big lump sum after you submit your annual income tax return.  If you’re required to make quarterly advanced payments, keep these deadlines in your calendar for reference:
  • 10th March: advance payment for the 1st quarter
  • 10th June: advance payment for the 2nd quarter
  • 10th September: advance payment for the 3rd quarter
  • 10th December: advance payment for the 4th quarter
Income tax projections aren’t usually accurate, and will be reconciled when you file your annual income tax return. If you’ve overpaid in your quarterly payments, the balance will be refunded to you. Similarly, if you’ve earnt a lot more than what was anticipated, you’re likely to receive a bill to cover the difference. 

Conclusion

We hope that this blog post removes some of the confusion about which important dates for filing reports and submitting forms as a freelancer in Germany. While these dates apply to most freelancers, it can differ depending on your individual situation, so make sure to ask your local tax office if you’re unsure. 7 mistakes to avoid when starting out as a Freiberufler in Berlin 💡 Tip from Accountable: It’s easy to feel inundated with dates and deadlines, but you don’t have to do it alone. Download Accountable now and access reminders and generate tax reports. Our team is available to help, and can even redirect you to our partner accountants.

Neues E-book über den Einstieg in die Selbstständigkeit

20 Kapitel knallhart recherchiert und vom Steuerprofi geprüft

Kostenlos herunterladen
Sophia Author

Author - Sophia Merzbach

Sophia has been a key member of the Accountable team for many years, bringing a unique blend of journalistic precision and in-depth tax expertise to her work.

Who is Sophia ?

Did you find what you were looking for?

You might also like

An overview of the different tax classes

How much income tax is deducted from your income is largely determined by your tax class. There are ...

Read more

Income tax for freelancers – how much tax do I have to pay in Germany?

Working as a self-employed professional has many advantages: You are your own boss and you can choos...

Read more

What is the Reverse Charge procedure and how does it apply to you?

Working with international clients can be tricky, depending on where exactly they’re located, whet...

Read more

Hear it straight from our users

Accountable vereinfacht mir zu 100% meine Steuerangelegenheiten für mein Kleinunternehmen. Mobil per Handy oder am Laptop verfügbar und super einfach zu bedienen. Alles an einem Platz, Rechnungen direkt in der App kategorisiert und abgelegt. Top. Wenn ich mal eine Frage habe, ist die KI sofort verfügbar oder wenn die mal nicht weiter weiß ein menschlicher Steuercoach:).Ich bin sehr dankbar für diese App.

Anja Bartl

Unkomplizierte, vor allem schnelle Abwicklung. Ein paar übereinander Schneidungen gab es zwar bezüglich E-Mail-Versand, aber ansonsten hat alles reibungslos geklappt und ich bin dankbar für die zuvorkommende Hilfe.

Pamela Klauke

Definitely how fast the team answer your questions, always very eager to help with every kind of problem

Anonym

Super übersichtlich, einfach zu verstehen. Das erste mal, das ich das Gefühl habe, selbst meine Steuer zu verstehen. Normalerweise habe ich nach dem ein Steuerberater meien Unterlagen neu sortiert hat, überhaupt keinen Überblick mehr gehabt ... Kurz um: I love it

Ramona Schmidt

Die App ist super einfach aufgebaut. Für alle mehr als verständlich. Es gibt tolle verschiedene Optionen um Antworten zu bekommen. Wenn die KI nicht helfen kann, antworten die Steuer Coaches immer sehr schnell und sehr freundlich, so dass man direkt weiter arbeiten kann. Hab Accountable schon mehrfach weiterempfohlen.

Anonym

What I really appreciate is that you can quickly help me with my doubts about taxes, invoicing, and how to do things right in Germany. I've never been freelance and I am not German, so for my this support is crucial, especially because it's so hard to find an advisor in Berlin that I was almost going to give up, but I am happy I started with Accountable. The only thing I would do better is to see in my dashboard the status of the application as freelance to the finanzamt, since that was done through your site and there is no connection to that in my dashboard.

Francisco Javier Aguilar Sanchez

Mein Steuercoach hat zunächst versucht meine Frage besser zu verstehen und Nachfragen gestellt. Nachdem der Sachverhalt nicht direkt geklärt werden konnte, blieb man hartnäckig und hat sich mit Kollegen ausgetauscht, bis ich eine Lösung hatte. Das war genau so, wie ich es mir vorgestellt hatte. Bin sehr zufrieden

Michael Hofmann

Ich bin echt begeistert von Accountable.

Anonym

Ich hatte ein Problem mit dem Importieren von Eingangsrechnung (Fahrtkosten). Die Aufgabe hat Anahita übernommen und gelöst. Mein Problem wurde ernst genommen, sie hat Kontakt gehalten und schlussendlich wurde es von der IT gelöst. Vielen Dank.

Heinz Wiemers

Simon gave me a quick response and explained everything very kindly and clearly. I really appreciate his excellent customer support.

Yuki Shiroi