Registering a small business in Germany: what does it cost?

Registering a small business costs, where we looked up the fee, 26 euros for a sole trader (Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia); the online notification costs 15 euros in Berlin. The fee is set by your state or municipality, so there is no single nationwide figure.

The follow-on costs usually weigh more. They are listed further down.

Last updated: 30 October 2026

In short

Tax number: According to Berlin the tax registration questionnaire is free of charge; Berlin also calls registering with ELSTER free.
No separate "small business" form: You register a trade (section 14 GewO); "Kleingewerbe" is everyday usage for a small trade.
Trade tax: Natural persons have an allowance of 24,500 euros (section 11 GewStG).

What does registering a small business cost?

The legal basis is section 14 (1) GewO: anyone who starts an independent permanent trade must notify the competent authority at the same time. The local authority is competent; in Berlin it is the district's regulatory office where your business is located. What the notification costs is set by the state's fee schedule. The following examples come from the authorities' own pages:

Place	Fee according to the authority
Berlin	26 euros per sole trade; 15 euros for notification in the electronic procedure
North Rhine-Westphalia	26 euros for natural persons; further costs possible if additional documents have to be obtained (for example a certificate of good conduct)
Hamburg	25 euros per partner in partnerships; 15 euros for a copy of the registration

These are examples, not a price list for all of Germany. Check the figure on your municipality's page before you register. Online is cheaper in Berlin: 15 euros, and you pay the reduced fee online right away. More: Business registration online in Germany.

What this means for you: Check your municipality's page for the exact trade registration fee before you register.

Registering a sole trade (Einzelgewerbe): cost and steps

Registering a sole trade (Einzelgewerbe) costs 26 euros in the examples we checked (Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia); in Berlin the notification in the electronic procedure costs 15 euros. The steps:

Notify the trade: to the competent local authority, at the same time as you start (section 14 (1) GewO). The fee is in the table above.
Submit the tax registration questionnaire: electronically, within one month of starting the activity (section 138 (1b) and (4) AO); free of charge according to Berlin. The process is explained in Tax number for a business in Germany.

What this means for you: For a sole trade you pay the authority's fee (examples 15 to 26 euros) and nothing for the tax number afterwards.

What does the tax number cost?

Nothing. For the tax registration of a trade with the tax office, Berlin lists "Fees: none", and the Berlin tax administration describes the registration with "Mein ELSTER" as free. You must submit the questionnaire electronically, within one month of starting the activity (section 138 (1b) and (4) AO). The process is explained in Tax number for a business in Germany; the individual fields in Tax registration questionnaire for sole proprietors.

What this means for you: Submit the tax registration questionnaire electronically within one month; there is no fee for the tax number.

Which costs come after registration?

The registration fee is usually the smallest item. Running costs depend on what you do:

Trade tax: For natural persons and partnerships, trade income is reduced by an allowance of 24,500 euros (section 11 (1) GewStG). If your trade income is below it, no trade tax arises for your trade.
Income tax: The profit of your sole proprietorship belongs in your income tax return (Wirtschaftsportal NRW).
VAT: As a small business owner you generally do not charge VAT (section 19 UStG). The limits and what happens when you exceed them: Small business rule 2026: the limits.
Chamber contribution (IHK or HWK): At the IHK you are exempt from the contribution without a commercial register entry as long as your trade income or business profit does not exceed 5,200 euros. Founders get a further relief. If you had no income from a business, self-employment or agriculture and forestry in the five years before and held no more than a tenth of a corporation, you pay neither the basic contribution nor the levy in the founding year and the following year, as long as your trade income or business profit does not exceed 25,000 euros. In the third and fourth year the levy is waived under the same limit (section 3 (3) IHKG). For the Handwerkskammer and your chamber's current limits, ask your chamber.
Permit and employers' liability insurance association: Some trades need an additional permit; whether your new business is subject to compulsory insurance with the Berufsgenossenschaft is something you clarify with it (Wirtschaftsportal NRW).

What this means for you: Plan for the running costs that follow, because the registration fee is usually the smallest item.

What is a "small business" in the first place?

When you register, you notify a trade (section 14 GewO), large or small. The Wirtschaftsportal NRW calls a Kleingewerbe a business that does not exceed 80,000 euros profit and 800,000 euros annual turnover. ELSTER names the same amounts as the limits above which traders generally need a profit and loss account or a balance sheet. Below them, the cash-basis profit calculation (EÜR) is enough. Under commercial law a trade is a commercial business unless, by its nature or size, it does not require a commercially organised business operation (section 1 (2) HGB).

What this means for you: Register your trade even if it is small, and note that "small business" has different limits for different purposes.

Sole trade or small business?

The two words do not describe the same thing. "Sole trade" (Einzelgewerbe) says who registers: a sole trade is registered by a single person. The Berlin fee list distinguishes it from partnerships, where the fee is charged per partner. "Small business" (Kleingewerbe) says how large the trade is: the Wirtschaftsportal NRW calls a business that does not exceed €80,000 profit and €800,000 annual turnover by that name, and speaks of a "small business as a sole proprietorship" when one person runs it. Your small trade as an individual is therefore both at once. On the form you register a trade in every case (§ 14 GewO), and the fee follows the table above.

What this means for you: "sole trade" and "small business" do not describe the same thing; the fee follows the fee table.

Which mistakes come up often?

Counting on a fixed fee. The figure depends on your place; your municipality's page applies.
Thinking the trade registration replaces the questionnaire. The trade office does inform the tax office (section 14 (8) GewO), but you must still submit the tax registration questionnaire yourself, within one month.
Paying third parties for the questionnaire. It is free of charge at ELSTER; with access to "Mein ELSTER" you submit it yourself.
Mixing up trade tax and VAT. The trade tax allowance (24,500 euros) and the small business limit (25,000 euros in the founding year; after that 25,000 euros previous year, 100,000 euros current year) are two different rules.

What this means for you: Do not count on a fixed fee, and still submit the tax questionnaire after the trade registration.

How VAT GPT helps you with this

You pay the registration fee to your authority, and you register the trade at your municipality.

VAT GPT is the tax software for online sellers, freelancers and small businesses in Germany. It calculates and files in one place, in this order:

your OSS return
VAT
EÜR
trade tax
income tax

The VAT GPT method has three steps:

Upload: You upload your sales reports (for example Amazon or eBay CSV files) and your invoices. The AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates.
Check: VAT GPT calculates your returns from this data and flags invoices with low confidence for manual review. You check and confirm.
Send: With VAT GPT Pro, the VAT returns and the other returns go through ELSTER to the tax office, the OSS return directly to the BZSt.

For the tax side of your small business you fill in the tax registration questionnaire for sole proprietors in VAT GPT and choose there whether you apply the small business rule or waive it. VAT GPT sends the questionnaire to the tax office so that you get your tax number. If you then upload your Amazon or eBay CSV reports and invoices, VAT GPT breaks down VAT for Germany and the EU (OSS) and prepares the advance return if you need one. Get to know VAT GPT or create an account right away.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost to register a small business? Your state decides. Examples: Berlin 26 euros (online 15 euros), North Rhine-Westphalia 26 euros for natural persons. Your municipality's page gives the exact fee.

Do I have to register a trade at all for a small business? Yes, if you take up a commercial activity: the notification under section 14 GewO is made at the same time as you start. Freelancers do not notify a trade but inform the tax office of the start (Berlin: exceptions from the duty to notify under section 6 GewO).

Is the tax number subject to a fee? No. According to Berlin the tax registration questionnaire is free of charge.

Do I pay trade tax on a small business? Only above the allowance of 24,500 euros of trade income (section 11 GewStG, natural persons and partnerships). The amount depends on your municipality's multiplier (Wirtschaftsportal NRW).

Do I pay VAT on a small business? Not while you are a small business owner: in the founding year at most 25,000 euros of turnover, after that previous year at most 25,000 euros and current year at most 100,000 euros (section 19 (1) UStG, section 19.1 (3) UStAE).

Can I register online? Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and the BayernPortal offer an online procedure; what it looks like is in Business registration online in Germany.