The network covers Germany within the Western Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in EUR, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in German.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Berlin, Munich, Francfort, Hambourg.
The country is a member of the European Union. An employee posted from another member state remains attached to the scheme of origin under the conditions set by the European coordination regulations, and the A1 certificate issued by the institution of the sending country is the proof of this. That document is called for during on-site inspections: it is applied for before departure, never afterwards.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Germany, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Steuerberater ; à défaut, intervenant relevant de l'exception « Buchführungshelfer » du § 6 Nr. 4 StBerG, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'assistance en matière fiscale pour compte de tiers est un monopole légal des Steuerberater, Rechtsanwälte et Wirtschaftsprüfer. La paie courante échappe à ce monopole grâce à l'exception du § 6 Nr. 4 StBerG, mais sous condition de formation commerciale reconnue et de trois ans de pratique. Ce qui reste interdit à un prestataire non Steuerberater : le conseil fiscal, l'appréciation de questions fiscales complexes (traitement d'avantages en nature litigieux, par exemple) et la clôture des comptes.
Germany sits within the European Union and the European Economic Area: an employee arriving from another member state falls under the EU coordination regulations, and the A1 certificate settles which social security legislation applies. Contracts and pay statements are drawn up in German, the language that governs before the Arbeitsgericht (labour court) in the event of a dispute, and payroll is denominated in euro.
Germany's most structural feature is professional rather than fiscal. The Steuerberatungsgesetz (Tax Advisory Act) reserves tax assistance to Steuerberater (tax advisers), lawyers and auditors. Routine payroll escapes that monopoly under a statutory exception, but the exception is conditional on recognised commercial training and several years of practice. A provider who is not a Steuerberater may therefore produce payslips; it may not advise on a complex tax question.
One further surprise: there is no single social security collection body. Each employee belongs to a health insurance fund, which acts as the collecting agency for all contributions.
The employee chooses their own health insurance fund (Krankenkasse), and that fund becomes the employer's counterpart for all social contributions. Affiliation to the relevant Berufsgenossenschaft, the sector accident insurance institution, is added on top.
In Germany, two registrations nevertheless come before the first filing. A company must obtain an establishment number (Betriebsnummer) from the federal employment agency before reporting a first employee, then a tax number from the competent Finanzamt (tax office) for wage tax withholding.
Written evidence of the essential terms of the employment relationship is required as a minimum by law, and a written contract is standard practice. Look closely at the probation period, the notice period and any non-compete clause, which is valid only where financial compensation is stipulated.
Wage tax withholding (Lohnsteuer) is compulsory and draws on the employee's electronic tax data; returns are periodic and their frequency depends on reported volume. Social contributions require a declaration to each fund and payment in advance during the month itself, a mechanism that regularly unsettles foreign treasury teams.
The Kündigungsschutzgesetz (Protection Against Dismissal Act) governs the end of the contract once a given headcount and length of service are reached, and the works council, where one exists, must be consulted before any dismissal takes effect.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Germany. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 8 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handelsregisterauszug (aktueller Ausdruck, Abteilung B)Commercial register extract Réclamer un « aktueller Ausdruck » récent, avec le numéro HRB. Une entreprise individuelle ou une GbR non immatriculée au Handelsregister produira à la place sa Gewerbeanmeldung (Gewerbeschein) délivrée par le Gewerbeamt de la commune. | Amtsgericht — Registergericht ; portail commun des Länder | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr.) et SteuernummerVAT identification number and tax number Ne pas confondre la Steuernummer (attribuée par le Finanzamt local, utilisée pour les déclarations) et la USt-IdNr. au format DE + 9 chiffres, seule utilisable pour la facturation intracommunautaire et vérifiable via VIES. | Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) pour la USt-IdNr. ; Finanzamt pour la Steuernummer | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung in Steuersachen (steuerliche Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung)Tax clearance certificate Attestation à demander au Finanzamt : elle indique que l'entreprise a rempli ses obligations déclaratives et de paiement. Elle ne vaut qu'à sa date d'émission, d'où l'exigence usuelle de moins de trois mois. | Finanzamt compétent | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung der Krankenkasse (Sozialversicherung) ; le cas échéant Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung der BerufsgenossenschaftSocial security clearance certificate from the health insurance fund En Allemagne, les cotisations sociales sont collectées par la caisse maladie de chaque salarié, qui joue le rôle d'Einzugsstelle : l'attestation est donc délivrée par la ou les Krankenkassen concernées, et non par un organisme unique comme l'URSSAF. Depuis 2024 elle se demande par voie électronique. | Krankenkasse compétente comme Einzugsstelle (AOK, BKK, IKK…) ; Berufsgenossenschaft (DGUV) pour les accidents du travail | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Nachweis der Berufshaftpflichtversicherung (Vermögensschaden-Haftpflichtversicherung)Professional indemnity insurance certificate Obligatoire par la loi pour les Steuerberater et les sociétés d'expertise fiscale (§ 67 StBerG et § 51 DVStB), avec une somme assurée minimale légale par sinistre. Pour un simple prestataire de paie relevant du § 6 Nr. 4 StBerG, elle n'est pas imposée par la loi : l'exiger contractuellement. | Assureur ; contrôle par la Steuerberaterkammer pour les Steuerberater | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Bestellungsurkunde als Steuerberater / Eintragung bei der Steuerberaterkammer — ou justification de l'exception du § 6 Nr. 4 StBerGRegistration with the Chamber of Tax Advisers, or evidence of the § 6 No. 4 StBerG exemption L'assistance en matière fiscale est en principe réservée aux Steuerberater (Steuerberatungsgesetz). Le § 6 Nr. 4 StBerG ouvre toutefois une exception pour la saisie des écritures courantes, la paie courante (laufende Lohnabrechnung) et l'établissement des déclarations de retenue à la source, à condition que l'intervenant justifie d'une formation commerciale reconnue et d'une pratique professionnelle d'au moins trois ans dans ce domaine. Demander soit la Bestellungsurkunde, soit la preuve documentée de la formation et de l'ancienneté. | Steuerberaterkammer du Land ; Bundessteuerberaterkammer au niveau fédéral | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Personalausweis / Reisepass des Geschäftsführers + Gesellschafterliste / TransparenzregisterauszugManaging director's ID, shareholder list and transparency register extract Le Transparenzregister est le registre allemand des bénéficiaires effectifs ; l'extrait est le justificatif attendu dans un dossier de lutte contre le blanchiment. La Gesellschafterliste est par ailleurs déposée au Handelsregister. | Bundesanzeiger Verlag pour le Transparenzregister | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Verzeichnis von Verarbeitungstätigkeiten (Art. 30 DSGVO), Benennung eines Datenschutzbeauftragten (§ 38 BDSG), Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag (Art. 28 DSGVO)Records of processing, DPO appointment, data processing agreement Aucune déclaration préalable depuis le RGPD. En revanche l'Allemagne va plus loin que le RGPD : le § 38 BDSG impose la désignation d'un délégué à la protection des données dès que vingt personnes au moins traitent régulièrement des données à caractère personnel de façon automatisée — seuil aisément atteint par un bureau de paie. Demander le nom et les coordonnées du DPO et faire signer un AVV. | Autorité de protection des données du Land (Landesdatenschutzbehörde) ; BfDI au niveau fédéral | No expiry Required | Official website |
The Betriebsrat (works council) holds genuine co-decision rights, notably over working time, monitoring arrangements and certain individual measures. German codetermination is not a consultative body.
Tarifverträge, next, are negotiated by sector and by region, and whether they apply depends on the employer's membership of an employers' federation or on an administrative extension. Establishing whether it is bound falls to the employer arriving from abroad, and the answer is never self-evident.
German law goes further than the European regulation on data protection: appointing a data protection officer becomes mandatory once a small number of people regularly process personal data by automated means, a threshold to be measured against the firm's actual headcount rather than assumed to be met. A works agreement covering the processing of staff data is also common practice and is usually expected by the works council.
Le vrai point de contrôle allemand est le statut au regard du Steuerberatungsgesetz : demander sans détour si le cabinet est Steuerberater ou s'il agit sous l'exception du § 6 Nr. 4 StBerG, et faire préciser dans le contrat où s'arrête sa prestation. Piège d'appellation : un Lohnsteuerhilfeverein n'est PAS un prestataire de paie pour entreprises — il n'assiste que des salariés pour leur propre déclaration de revenus. Autre particularité : il n'existe pas d'organisme unique de recouvrement social, l'attestation de régularité sociale est délivrée par la Krankenkasse de rattachement des salariés, et il faut parfois y ajouter celle de la Berufsgenossenschaft.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Germany, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Germany has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
The question to put squarely to a German firm concerns its standing under the Steuerberatungsgesetz: is it a Steuerberater registered with the Steuerberaterkammer (chamber of tax advisers) of its Land, or does it operate under the statutory exception open to routine payroll, in which case training and experience must be documented. Add a recent Handelsregister (commercial register) extract, the clearance certificate issued by the Finanzamt, the equivalent from the relevant Krankenkassen, and the name of the data protection officer. The scope of services must be stated explicitly in the contract.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Germany yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in GermanyEach page takes up the data in this profile from a particular angle.
Mobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Germany.