When starting a career in e-commerce, Germany is a very big and interesting market. Please read the most important information on this topic in the following article.
Maria
Last Updated on 20 July 2022
Who has to get VAT registered in Germany?
When the yearly turnover threshold for distance selling was reached, a seller has to get VAT registered in Germany. After July 2021 the country-specific VAT threshold was abolished and a new EU-wide threshold of 10.000 EU was introduced.
What information is required for a VAT registration in Germany?
For the registration, the German Tax authorities will require specific registration forms, which will be filled out and submitted along with the following documents:
- VAT certificate from your home country
- Business register extract confirming your companies validity
- Article of Association
How long does a VAT registration in Germany take?
The average processing time of the VAT registration is 6 weeks.
What numbers will I receive when the registration was processed?
In Germany there exist two different numbers: VAT Identification number and Tax number (Steuernummer).
Those two numbers are being assigned separately and are being used for different purposes.
The tax number is a more general number, which is being assigned to traders. The VAT identification number is being used for the reporting of intra-community supplies.
What authorities are dealing with the Tax matters in Germany?
The responsibility for taxation in Germany is shared between the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) and the Finanzamt.
Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt):
- This is the Federal Central Tax Office and deals with national tax matters
- They are dealing with matters like : allocating VAT numbers for entrepreneurs or issuing Tax IDs
- Depending on the nature of your request, the contact details are different. Those can be found on the website of the BZSt: BZSt’s website.
Finanzamt
- This is the tax office that on the behalf of the municipality, federal state and the federal government administrates taxes (except the custom duties)
- In Germany there are around 650 tax offices and those are responsible for collecting income taxes, calculating and collecting property taxes, collecting business taxes, processing annual tax returns and registering freelancers and new businesses
- The responsible tax office is determined upon where you are based in Germany. If you change your address, the responsible tax office may change as well. Your closest tax office can be found by entering your postcode here.
- For companies, which are not based in Germany, please click here for a list of responsible tax offices.
What do I have to do, if I want to get registered or if I am not sure if I need to get registered in Germany?
We can support you with both.
If you are not sure, whether you need a registration in Germany, you can book a free consultation , where we will evaluate together your situation and give you advice how to proceed next.
If you know, that you need a VAT registration, we can support you with this. Please see our internal pricing and reach out to our Sales team for more information.
Do you want to read more about this topic? Please read here another article with more examples.
