Issuing invoices, filing accounting documents and submitting tax returns are recurring parts of self-employment. Your obligations depend on your activity, legal form, VAT status and whether you employ staff. This overview mainly concerns sole traders and members of the liberal professions in Germany; companies such as a UG or GmbH have additional requirements.
First establish which duties apply to your business
Prepare a brief overview of your circumstances: trade or liberal profession, sole trader or company, standard VAT treatment or the small-business VAT exemption, with or without employees. Add foreign transactions, cash sales and sector-specific requirements. These characteristics determine which of the following tasks apply to you. “Kleinunternehmer” describes a VAT arrangement, not a legal form.
For each task, record the recipient, reporting period, filing deadline, payment date and person responsible. Note where notices, access credentials and submission receipts are stored. Update the overview when your business model changes; registering once does not replace ongoing organisation.
Ongoing: record invoices and business transactions
Record income and expenses promptly and link each transaction to its accounting document or receipt. Match invoices to payments received and follow up outstanding amounts. A weekly administration appointment helps, but keeping a weekly plan is not a statutory obligation.
A standard VAT invoice must include, in particular, the full names and addresses of both parties, the issuer’s tax number or VAT identification number, issue date, unique invoice number, description and date of the supply, net amount, tax rate and tax amount. A tax exemption requires the relevant statement. Special rules apply to low-value invoices and invoices under the small-business VAT exemption. Invoices for taxable supplies to other businesses must generally be issued within six months; special cases may have shorter deadlines. § 14 UStG
A monthly review that reveals gaps
Compare bank, credit-card and payment-service transactions with your records. Check for missing purchase invoices, duplicate documents, refunds and unpaid customer invoices. Payment providers may deduct fees before transferring funds: the payout alone then does not show the whole transaction. Keep the corresponding settlement statements as well.
Make private and business transactions clearly distinguishable. A separate business account can make matching easier. Flag unresolved entries with a specific question instead of silently estimating them. This creates a manageable set of records for your own bookkeeping or your tax adviser.
Allow for electronic invoices
Businesses established in Germany have had to be able to receive structured electronic invoices since 1 January 2025, including small businesses exempt from VAT. A plain PDF is not a structured electronic invoice. Transitional rules apply to issuing invoices: paper invoices and, with the recipient’s consent, other electronic invoices generally remain possible until the end of 2026. For a previous-year turnover of up to €800,000, this option continues until the end of 2027. Small businesses covered by the VAT exemption are exempt from issuing structured electronic invoices. Invoices to public authorities have additional rules that must be checked separately. BMF
Long term: retain documents correctly
Retention periods depend on the type of document. The usual periods for typical business records are:
- 8 years: invoices and accounting vouchers.
- 10 years: books, inventories, annual accounts and related organisational documents.
- 6 years: incoming and outgoing business correspondence and other tax-relevant records, unless a longer period applies.
The period generally starts at the end of the relevant calendar year. An invoice issued in 2026 must therefore normally be kept until 31 December 2034. Unresolved tax proceedings or other statutory obligations may require longer retention. § 14b UStG, § 147 AO
Electronic records must remain readable, available and traceable. For electronic invoices, retain the structured data in particular; a printout alone is insufficient. An ordinary cloud folder does not automatically meet all requirements. Arrange access rights, traceable changes, backups and export facilities. GoBD
Organise filing and backups in practice
Define a traceable path from receipt of a document to its filing. Include checking it, linking it to the business transaction and handling corrections. Describe the software actually used and the responsibilities in your procedural documentation, known as Verfahrensdokumentation. Its scope and level of detail depend on your business processes.
Regularly test whether records can be found, exported and restored from a backup. Before changing software or cancelling a subscription, establish how you will retain all invoice data and supporting documents. A backup protects against data loss; it does not replace a compliant archive. GoBD.
Monthly or quarterly: VAT
If you must submit advance VAT returns, both the return and payment are generally due by the 10th day after the reporting period ends. Monthly or quarterly filing, and any exemption from filing, depend on the statutory conditions; special rules also apply to new businesses. An approved permanent deadline extension adds one month; monthly filers normally need to make a special advance payment. § 18 UStG, §§ 46–47 UStDV, § 47 UStDV
Under the German VAT exemption scheme for small businesses (Kleinunternehmerregelung), ordinary advance VAT returns and the annual VAT return are generally not required. Exceptions, such as certain services purchased from abroad for which the recipient owes the tax, can still create reporting and payment obligations. Comply with any explicit request from the tax office. This scheme does not exempt you from income tax or document retention. § 19 UStG
Monitor the small-business VAT thresholds
Under Germany’s small-business VAT exemption, the relevant total turnover must not exceed EUR 25,000 in the previous year and EUR 100,000 in the current year. In the year the business starts, the limit is EUR 25,000. The transaction that takes turnover above the applicable current-year limit already falls outside this exemption. Any other VAT exemption must be assessed separately.
Monitor turnover throughout the year. These limits concern total turnover calculated under § 19 UStG, not your profit. Any voluntary waiver of the scheme must also be considered. Discuss an anticipated change early so that invoices and returns can be adjusted in time. § 19 UStG, Finanzverwaltung NRW.
Quarterly and annually: other taxes
- Income tax: assessed advance payments are generally due on 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December. You can request an adjustment if your profit changes substantially. § 37 EStG
- Trade tax: where advance payments have been assessed, the usual dates are 15 February, 15 May, 15 August and 15 November. Activities classified purely as liberal professions are not subject to trade tax. § 19 GewStG, IHK
- Annual returns: calculate your profit and file the required returns. The income-surplus calculation (EÜR) is available only where there is no obligation to keep double-entry accounts and you do not voluntarily prepare a balance sheet. For mandatory returns without professional tax assistance, the usual deadline is 31 July of the following year; with assistance, it is normally the end of February of the second following year. Transitional rules for particular tax years and requests for earlier filing may differ. § 149 AO, IHK
If a statutory tax filing or payment period ends on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it generally ends on the next working day. A specific date expressly set by an authority may still have to be observed on those days. Check your notices and individual deadlines. § 108 AO
Distinguish tax reserves from available cash
A healthy bank balance does not mean the entire amount is available for personal spending. Allow for unpaid supplier invoices, upcoming contributions, VAT and income-tax advance payments. Also plan for possible tax balances from previous years. An additional assessment and higher ongoing advance payments can fall due close together.
Keep a simple cash-flow forecast of expected receipts and payments due. Review the reserve after major orders or a fall in profit. One fixed percentage does not suit every business; use your tax notices and an up-to-date calculation for your circumstances.
Depending on your business: insurance, staff and foreign transactions
Clarify your health and long-term care insurance, pay contributions on time and provide requested evidence of income. Certain self-employed people are subject to compulsory pension insurance, including some teaching, care and skilled-trade occupations. Chamber contributions or obligations towards the statutory accident insurance institution may also apply, depending on your activity. BMG, Deutsche Rentenversicherung
Employing staff adds payroll calculations, wage-tax and social-security reporting, contribution payments and required working-time records. Special rules apply to minijobs. For international transactions, check the place of supply, VAT identification numbers, reverse charge and, where applicable, the recapitulative statement (Zusammenfassende Meldung). These obligations are compulsory when their conditions apply. § 41a EStG, § 18a UStG
Work with your tax adviser and a substitute
Agree who checks documents, submits returns and arranges payments. Set an internal handover date before the statutory deadline. A power of attorney or direct-debit mandate does not automatically take care of every other task. Retain submission confirmations and follow up on queries.
Plan for holidays and illness too: a designated substitute should know which deadlines are approaching and how to access the necessary records. Share access securely and limit permissions to what is needed. This keeps administration working if you are temporarily unavailable.
A practical office routine
- Ongoing: check official correspondence and electronic mailboxes; record response deadlines immediately.
- Weekly: process invoices, match accounting documents and check outstanding payments.
- Monthly: complete accounting records, prepare upcoming returns and check reserves.
- Quarterly: compare advance tax payments with actual business performance.
- Annually: prepare profit calculations, tax returns and insurance evidence; check retention periods before deleting anything.
This routine is an organisational aid. Statutory deadlines and specific notices take priority. Motorica.io can help you process invoices and organise accounting documents. You still need to establish the correct tax treatment and check your individual obligations.
This article provides general information about German rules and does not replace individual tax or legal advice.
Photo credit: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels.