Registering a small business: procedure, documents and costs

Registering a small business: the essentials first

Many people look for a special form for a small business. There isn't one. A small business is a trade that, by its nature or scope, does not need a commercially organised business operation (Sec. 1 (2) HGB). You are therefore not a merchant within the meaning of the HGB (German Commercial Code) and do not have to be entered in the commercial register. The law does not set any fixed turnover limits for this. The frequently cited €800,000 turnover and €80,000 profit are thresholds for the bookkeeping obligation (Sec. 141 AO, Sec. 241a HGB), not a limit for the small business. What this means in everyday life is explained in our guide to the small business.

Two legal forms are possible: alone as a sole proprietorship or with partners as a GbR (civil law partnership). In a GbR, each partner usually registers the trade. We draft the partnership agreement for it with Form a GbR from €259 net plus VAT, IHK and the trade registration fee.

Do I need to register a trade at all?

Yes, as soon as your activity is a trade. Anyone who starts a trade from a fixed establishment must notify the competent authority (Sec. 14 (1) GewO). The provision contains no minimum threshold for turnover, profit or working hours. So there is no amount up to which you may earn commercially without registering.

According to the common definition, a trade exists if you carry on a permitted activity independently, on a lasting basis and with the intention of making a profit. Liberal professions, agriculture and forestry and the mere management of your own assets are excluded.

Trade or liberal profession? The quick check

• You buy goods and resell them, including online: trade.
• You offer craft or craft-related services: trade.
• You work as a doctor, engineer, journalist, translator or in another listed profession under Sec. 18 EStG: liberal profession. You then only register with the tax office (Sec. 138 (1) sentence 3 AO).
• You occasionally sell used items from your household: as a rule not a trade, because the activity is not carried on on a lasting basis.

In consulting, design or IT, the line is often blurred, and a wrong classification can trigger trade tax back payments. With Set up a sole proprietorship, a lawyer checks the classification for you.

Registering a small business in 5 steps

1. Classify the activity and check permits

First clarify whether you need a permit or registration for your activity. Anyone who carries on a craft requiring a licence as a trade from a fixed establishment must be entered in the register of craftspeople (Handwerksrolle) (Sec. 1 (1) HwO). Activities requiring a permit include, for example, security services, real estate and loan brokerage or insurance brokerage (Sec. 34a, 34c, 34d GewO). Anyone who offers goods or services outside their establishment without a prior order carries on an itinerant trade and needs an itinerant trade card (Reisegewerbekarte) (Sec. 55 GewO). Without the necessary licence, the authority can prohibit the business (Sec. 15 (2) GewO).

2. Choose a name

Without a commercial register entry, you appear under your first and last name and add a business designation, such as "Lea Wagner Textilwerkstatt". A purely invented name as a company name is only possible as a registered merchant. Before registering, check whether your business name or domain infringes an older trade mark. Otherwise you risk a cease-and-desist letter and new signs, business cards and website. You secure your own name with Register a trade mark from €239 net plus VAT and official fees.

3. Gather the documents

To register, you usually need:

• identity card or passport; for online registration, the online ID function or another identification procedure of the authority (Sec. 2 (2) GewAnzV)
• for nationals from outside the EU, the residence permit that allows the activity
• for activities requiring a permit, the permit
• for crafts requiring a licence, the craft card (Handwerkskarte)
• a power of attorney if someone else registers for you

Your trade office's website states which additional evidence it requires.

4. Register the trade: online or in person

The competent body is the trade office (Gewerbeamt, public order office or citizens' office) of the municipality where your business is located. Online, you register via the service portal of your federal state or municipality; in person, usually by appointment. Online, there is no need to sign the form (Sec. 2 (1) GewAnzV). The trade office confirms receipt within three days (Sec. 15 (1) GewO). This confirmation of receipt is what many people call a "Gewerbeschein" (trade licence).

5. After registration: tax office, chamber, employers' liability insurance association

The trade office passes your data on to several bodies, including the tax office, the IHK or chamber of crafts and the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) for forwarding to your employers' liability insurance association (Sec. 14 (8) GewO, Sec. 3 GewAnzV). You must still submit the tax registration questionnaire electronically yourself (Sec. 138 (1b) AO). The table further down shows what is due when.

The GewA 1 form: how to fill it in

The official form is called "Gewerbe-Anmeldung" and is set out in Annex 1 to the Trade Notification Regulation (Gewerbeanzeigeverordnung) (Sec. 1 sentence 1 no. 1 GewAnzV). It is the same throughout Germany; online portals may deviate from its format, but not from its content (Sec. 2 (1) GewAnzV).

Group of fields	What to look out for
Details of the business owner	Name, birth details, nationality and address as in your ID.
Commercial register	For a sole proprietorship or GbR without an entry, the register fields remain empty. In a GbR, each partner fills in their own form.
Business premises	Address of the business; if you work from home, your home address.
Registered activity	Specific enough to be classified, broad enough for related services: "online retail of children's clothing and accessories" instead of "retail".
Start	The day you actually start.
Main or side business	Side business if you earn your income mainly elsewhere.
Employees	Often zero at the start.
Permit, craft card, residence permit	Only fill in if applicable, and attach evidence.

The activity is the most important entry: if your business expands to goods or services that are not covered, you need to change your registration (Sec. 14 (1) sentence 2 no. 2 GewO).

What does it cost to register a small business?

Each municipality or federal state sets the fee for trade registration itself. Via the North Rhine-Westphalia business service portal (Wirtschafts-Service-Portal NRW), online registration costs €26 for natural persons (according to the state portal, read on 10 Nov 2026).

[REDAKTION: Tabelle "Gebühr der Gewerbeanmeldung" mit Spalten Stadt, vor Ort, online, Stand für fünf bis zehn Städte bei den Kommunen erheben, nicht aus Ratgebern Dritter übernehmen.]

The registration itself is the smallest expense. The running costs a small business causes per month, from health insurance to the chamber contribution, are set out in the guide to the small business.

When do I have to register where?

Body	What	Deadline	Costs	Who does it
Permit authority	permit, if needed	before starting	fee under state law	you
Chamber of crafts	entry in the register of craftspeople (craft requiring a licence)	before starting (Sec. 1 (1) HwO)	according to the chamber's fee schedule	you
Trade office	trade registration	at the same time as starting (Sec. 14 (1) GewO)	municipal fee	you
Chamber of crafts	notification for a craft not requiring a licence or a craft-like trade	without undue delay (Sec. 18 (1) HwO)	according to chamber law	you
Tax office	tax registration questionnaire via ELSTER (the tax authorities' online portal)	within one month of opening the business (Sec. 138 (1b), (4) AO)	no fee	you
IHK	membership	by operation of law as soon as you are assessed for trade tax (Sec. 2 (1) IHKG), data comes from the trade office	contribution according to the contribution rules, exempt subject to conditions (Sec. 3 (3) IHKG)	automatic
Employers' liability insurance association	notification of the business	within one week of starting, deemed fulfilled by timely trade registration (Sec. 192 (1) SGB VII)	contribution according to sector	usually automatic
Federal Employment Agency	company number (Betriebsnummer)	before you register your first employee	no fee	you (Sec. 18i (1) SGB IV)

If you fail to comply with the notification obligation or do so late, this is an administrative offence (Sec. 146 (2) no. 2 (b) GewO), which can be punished with a fine of up to €1,000 (Sec. 146 (3) GewO).

Special cases: who may register a small business?

In principle, anyone may carry on a trade (Sec. 1 (1) GewO). In some circumstances, however, you have to inform other bodies. Amounts and limits then depend on your situation; clarify them with the competent body beforehand.

Alongside a job

A small business alongside a full-time job is permitted. Many employment contracts require you to notify your employer of a secondary activity, and competing with your employer is off limits. Whether your self-employment remains a sideline for health insurance purposes is something to clarify with your health insurance fund.

With a reduced earning capacity pension or old-age pension

Under trade law, there is nothing against it. Under pension law, the case is tricky: for a pension due to reduced earning capacity, there are additional earnings limits (Sec. 96a SGB VI), and a new activity can raise questions about the established reduced earning capacity itself. Talk to the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) before registering and report the additional earnings to them. If you receive an old-age pension, also ask them whether the additional earnings have consequences.

With unemployment benefit or citizen's income

With unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld), the entitlement only remains if your activity takes up less than 15 hours a week (Sec. 138 (3) SGB III). Income from it is offset (Sec. 155 SGB III). With citizen's income (Bürgergeld), the job centre also offsets your income. In both cases, inform the employment agency or job centre before you start.

As a student, a minor or without German citizenship

• Students may register a trade. Anyone who is self-employed as their main occupation or exceeds the income limit drops out of family insurance (Sec. 10 (1) SGB V). BAföG (student finance) and child benefit can also be affected.
• Minors need authorisation from their parents with the approval of the family court (Sec. 112 BGB).
• EU citizens are treated in the same way as Germans. Anyone from a country outside the EU needs a residence permit that allows self-employment (Sec. 4a, 21 AufenthG).

From home

You can register a small business at your home. Your home is then your business premises. If you have customer traffic, stock or employees, you usually need your landlord's consent in a rented flat, and depending on the type of use, building law may require a permit.

Small businesses in the crafts and in sectors requiring a permit

Whether you can register a small business as a painter, hairdresser or electrician is decided not by size but by the Crafts Code (Handwerksordnung). Even as a small business, you may only run a craft requiring a licence with an entry in the register of craftspeople, which as a rule requires a master craftsman's qualification or an equivalent qualification (Sec. 1, 7 HwO).

Activity	Classification	What you also need
Painter and varnisher	craft requiring a licence (Annex A no. 10 HwO)	entry in the register of craftspeople
Hairdresser	craft requiring a licence (Annex A no. 38 HwO)	entry in the register of craftspeople
Electrician	craft requiring a licence, electrical technician (Annex A no. 25 HwO)	entry in the register of craftspeople
Cosmetics, building cleaning	craft not requiring a licence (Annex B section 1 HwO)	notification to the chamber of crafts (Sec. 18 HwO)
Tattooing	not a craft under Annex A or B	trade registration, hygiene requirements of the federal state
Used car dealing	trade subject to monitoring (Sec. 38 (1) no. 1 GewO)	apply for a certificate of good conduct and an extract from the central trade register without undue delay
Café, snack bar	catering trade	permit if serving alcohol (Sec. 2 GastG), separate catering law in many federal states, plus food law
Online retail	as a rule no permit required	legal texts for the shop

If you only offer partial activities of a craft, it depends on the individual case (Sec. 1 (2) HwO). If in doubt, ask the chamber of crafts beforehand.

Taxes: what you decide when registering

In the tax registration questionnaire, you mainly decide on the small business VAT exemption (Kleinunternehmerregelung). With it, you do not charge VAT as long as your total turnover did not exceed €25,000 in the previous year and does not exceed €100,000 in the current year (Sec. 19 (1) UStG). Waiving it binds you for at least five calendar years (Sec. 19 (3) UStG). A small business is still not tax-free: income tax and, from €24,500 trade income, trade tax (Sec. 11 (1) GewStG) continue to apply. The guide to the small business explains the three taxes, and your tax adviser the calculation in your individual case.

Deregistering or changing a small business registration

Deregistering: If you give up your trade, you notify this at the same time as giving it up (Sec. 14 (1) sentence 2 no. 3 GewO), using the form "Gewerbe-Abmeldung" under Annex 3 GewAnzV (GewA 3). If it is clearly established that you have given up the business and you do not deregister within a reasonable time, the authority can deregister you of its own motion. You still file the last tax return for the business.

Changing the registration: If you move within the municipality, have a new name or change your activity, you use the "Gewerbe-Ummeldung" under Annex 2 GewAnzV (GewA 2). If you move to another municipality, you only register anew there, and the new office informs the old one (Sec. 14 (1) sentence 3 GewO).

Switching: If the business or the risk grows, you can register as a registered merchant (Sec. 2 HGB) or switch to a UG or GmbH. Our guide UG or sole proprietorship makes the comparison. We support the switch to a GmbH with Convert a sole proprietorship into a GmbH for €1,069 net plus VAT, notary and court fees and the fee for changing the trade registration.

Checklist: registering a small business

The full list for all legal forms is in our business formation checklist.

Registering a small business with Recht 24/7

The registration itself is quickly done. The questions beforehand are harder: is my activity a trade, may I use this name, what do I enter in the tax questionnaire? A lawyer helps you with these. You submit the registration to your municipality yourself, and we advise you on it.