How to Set Up As a Freiberufler (Freelancer) in Germany
This page is a step-by-step guide for setting up as a Freiberufler (freelancer) in Germany. Learn everything you need to know getting established as a freelancer in Germany, from applying for a freelance visa and getting your freelance tax number to registering at an address and taking out suitable insurance cover.
💻 As one of Europe's leading creative hubs, Germany naturally has a large and growing freelance community. International companies are increasingly looking for freelance professionals to work on projects in the fields of design, UX/UI, content creation, marketing, IT development, HR, recruitment, etc.
Everyone from language school teachers to illustrators can register as a freelancer – but the process of setting up on your own can be a tricky and confusing procedure. On the face of it, freelancing in Germany may seem daunting, but it can have a number of financial benefits and also give you access to a whole different job market.
On this page, we have laid exactly how to set up as a freelancer (Freiberufler) in Germany. If you are instead looking for information on how to work as a freelancer (i.e. invoicing, bookkeeping, paying taxes, etc.), see our other guide on how to operate as a freelancer in Germany.
1️⃣ Pre-arrival steps
Prior to arriving in Germany to start life as freelancer (Freiberufler), there are a few steps you can take in your home country to make your first weeks in Germany more comfortable.
✅ Apply for a Wise borderless account (formerly TransferWise)
Having a Wise borderless account means you can benefit from extremely low fees when transferring your money to euros, withdrawing cash or making payments on your Wise Debit Card in Germany.
Importantly, you will avoid extortionate and unfair rates set by high street banks, which are on average 8x more expensive than using Wise.
✅ Sort your tax affairs.
If you have been working prior to moving to Germany, we recommend you contact the relevant tax authorities in your home country to inform them that you will be moving to Germany and paying your taxes there in the near future.
The tax authorities in your home country will be able to provide guidance on any steps you need to take in order to close out your tax responsibilities prior to moving.
✅ Take out travel/expat insurance.
While you will ideally switch on to a private German health insurance policy once living and working as a freelancer in Germany (see step 4), this is not initially possible before you are officially registered at an address (see step 2) in Germany.
However, it is crucial that you still have some form of medical insurance coverage on arrival in Germany, which covers at least your first few weeks/months while you get established as a freelancer.
For this purpose, we like Feather expat health insurance.
2️⃣ Arrive in Germany and register at an address (Anmeldung)
🏠 Whatever your purpose for moving to Germany, your first action should always be to officially register at an address, a process that is known as Anmeldung.
This also applies to freelancers, as without Anmeldung, you are unable to apply for a Freelance Visa (if applicable), receive a German tax ID (Steueridentifikationsnummer) or apply for a freelance tax number (Steuernummer). In short, your set up as a freelancer in Germany will be paralysed without Anmeldung.
For full details about the address registration process in Germany, see our Anmeldung page.
⚠️ If you are struggling to find an address to register at in Germany, then you may be interested in booking a furnished apartment with Smartments. Smartments provide well-located, studio accommodation and offer Anmeldung so long as you book for at least 14 nights. By opting for Smartments, you can get registered within days of arriving in Berlin.
Once you have completed your address registration in Germany, your German tax ID (Steueridentifikationsnummer) will be automatically generated and sent to you in the mail – at this stage, you are already well on your way to becoming a ‘Freiberufler’ (freelancer) in Germany!
3️⃣ Determine whether you are a freelancer (Freiberufler) or self-employed (Gewerbetreibender)
🧑🎨 The first step in your quest to working as a freelancer in Germany is to determine whether your profession can actually be classified as a freelance profession or whether you are in fact self-employed.
While freelancers and self-employed workers are considered the same in many countries, this is definitely not the case in Germany. Depending on your profession, you will either be classified as a Freiberufler (freelancer) or Gewerbetreibender (self-employed), and this will dictate how you register your business, what taxes you pay, which industry bodies you must register with, and more.
Perhaps most importantly, it will impact whether you need to apply for a Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa (see Step 4 below).
As a starting point, let us look at the different categories to help you determine whether you are a freelancer or self-employed:
Freiberufler / Freelancer
In Germany, you are a Freiberufler / freelancer if you work in a so-called ‘liberal profession’, which in German is known as a ‘Freie Berufe’. These professions include:
✔️ Advisory occupations – examples include lawyers, notaries, accountants, tax advisors, business consultants and auditors.
✔️ Creative occupations and occupations involving the transfer and creation of information – examples include interpreters, translators, photographers, artists, designers, content writers, editors, journalists, authors.
✔️ Teaching occupations – examples include school teachers, kindergarten teachers and language school teachers.
✔️ Technical occupations – examples includes engineers, architects and surveyors.
✔️ Medical occupations – examples include doctors, nurses, vets and psychologists.
If you are unsure if your profession is a Freie Berufe, you can contact the Institute on Liberal Professions (Institut für Freie Berufe) or your local German tax office (Finanzamt). They will confirm whether you are in fact a Freiberufler (freelancer) or Gewerbetreibender (self-employed).
Gewerbetreibender / Self-Employed
If your freelance work does not fit into the categories listed above, then you will likely be classified as Gewerbetreibender (self-employed), which encompasses all businesses that are not Freie Berufe. Most commonly, this involves businesses that are involved in the production, trade or sale of products.
🛠️ The German Ministry of Economic Affairs gives examples of Gewerbetreibender as “traders, caterers, craftspeople or producers of goods”, to name a few.
Remember, if you are not quite sure, contact your local German tax office (Finanzamt) for a definitive answer.
4️⃣ Apply for German Health Insurance
⚠️ Freelancers and self-employed workers are legally obligated to have health insurance coverage in Germany.
As a freelancer (Freiberufler) or self-employed worker (Gewerbetreibender), you technically have the option of choosing between public health insurance and private health insurance in Germany.
However, in reality, if you are a non-EU citizen and a newcomer to Germany, your chances of being accepted by a public health insurance scheme are virtually zero and even lower if you do not already have a 2-year Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa for Germany.
🚑 Therefore, we suggest that you opt for German private health insurance.
German private health insurance
When it comes to getting private health insurance as a freelancer/self-employed worker in Germany, our favourite options are:
✅ German private health insurance policy through Feather
Feather is an English-speaking brokerage company that has a close relationship with a wide number of German insurers. You can sign up for a free consultation here – Feather will assess your situation and propose a German private health insurance that is suited to your needs. And best of all, the entire sign-up process is completely free of charge.
Importantly, Feather’s private health insurance policies meet all the requirements for a Freelance Visa. If you are needing to apply for a Freelance Visa in Germany (step 5), proof of suitable German health insurance will be an integral part of your application and one of the most common reasons for Freelance Visa applications being rejected. We like Feather’s private health insurance options as they meet all the necessary insurance requirements for a Freelance Visa and are accepted by the immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Berlin.
Having worked closely with Feather over the last year, we can assure you that you will be in very capable hands – therefore, this is our no.1 suggestion for freelancers and self-employed workers looking to get insured in Germany.
✅ German private health insurance policy with Ottonova
Another popular option amongst freelancers in Germany and a good alternative to Feather’s private health insurance policies is Ottonova. We also like Ottonova because:
It also meets all the requirements for a German Freelance Visa.
It offers 24/7 English-speaking customer support. Whether you want to find out details about your coverage, find a local doctor or book an appointment, Ottonova can assist you in English.
It is all managed online via an app. Ottonova have rid themselves of burdensome paperwork. Everything related to your insurance will be managed online or via Ottonova’s sleek app.
In the same way N26 is making waves in the German banking sector, Ottonova is setting a new benchmark for what a modern health insurance company should look like. To sign up for one of their policies, click here.
Expat health insurance
It is common for non-EU/EEA freelancers and self-employed workers to be rejected by private health insurance providers in Germany. If, after contacting Feather and Ottonova, you are deemed ineligible for German private health insurance, you will obviously still require health insurance coverage in Germany, especially if you intend to apply for the Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa.
✅ As a temporary solution, we like Feather’s expat health insurance cover, which will ensure you have sufficient medical cover while in Germany. Crucially, Feather’s expat cover also meets the requirements for a Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa (see step 5 below).
However, freelancers and self-employed workers should regard Feather’s expat health insurance cover as a temporary measure and switch to a regular German private health insurance policy as soon as possible after obtaining their visa.
For further tips on insurance, see our blog post on everything you need to know about insurance in Germany.
5️⃣ If applicable, apply for a Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa
If you are an EU/EEA citizen, skip straight to step 6 below as you do not require a visa to freelance in Germany.
🏛️ If you want to operate as a freelancer or self-employed worker in Germany and are not a citizen of an EU or EEA member state, then you first need to apply for a Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa before you can legally start working. Your visa application must be submitted at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
🌍 Note: Only citizens from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Israel, South Korea, Japan, or the UK can apply for a Freelance Visa/Self-Employment Visa at an immigration office after their arrival in Germany. Citizens from these countries can enter Germany visa-free for 90 days and apply for a Freelance Visa or Self-Employment Visa at a German immigration office during this period.
🛑 Citizens from other countries must apply for the Freelance Visa/Self-Employment Visa at their local German embassy/consulate in their home country. We have not included a separate section for applying for the Freelance/Self-Employment Visa from outside of Germany as the requirements greatly differ between embassies/consulates and it is common for overseas applications to be denied.
Freelance Visa application
If you are classified as a Freiberufler / freelancer (see description in section 3 above), then you need to apply for a Freelance Visa at an immigration office in Germany.
📃 We have compiled a complete guide on how to apply for the Freelance Visa at the immigration office in Berlin. The guide details exactly what types of clients you need, what health insurance you should have and how to complete the paperwork in order for your Freelance Visa application to be successful.
If you are living elsewhere in Germany, we recommend using our Berlin Freelance Visa application guide for reference but also checking the visa application requirements at your local German immigration office.
Self-Employment Visa application
If you are classified as a Gewerbetreibender / Self-Employed (see description in section 3 above), then you need to instead apply for a Self-Employment Visa at an immigration office in Germany.
📃 Here are the official application requirements for the Self-Employment Visa from the immigration office in Berlin. If you are living elsewhere in Germany, we recommend checking the visa application requirements at your local German immigration office.
The Self-Employment Visa application is similar to the Freelance Visa but it requires some additional proof about the value and viability of your business. Notably, you must show that:
an economic interest or a regional need exists. In short, you need some Germany-based clients to justify that your business needs to operate in Germany.
your occupation is expected to have a positive impact on the economy.
you have sufficient financing to fund your business.
At your appointment, they will assess your application against these criteria, and ultimately determine whether your business is sustainable and non-detrimental to Germany.
6️⃣ Apply for a freelance tax number
⚠️ Before you can start legally invoicing freelance clients in Germany and receiving payment, you need to obtain one further important document; your Freelance Tax Number (Steuernummer).
To obtain your freelance tax number, you must first complete a freelance tax number form (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung) and submit it to your local tax office (Finanzamt). To submit the form, you have a couple of options:
✅ Option 1 – In-person at your local tax office
To submit the form, simply go to your local tax office during opening hours, take an appointment ticket and wait to see a tax office worker who will check over your completed form. Remember to take your passport and address registration certificate (Anmeldebestätigung) with you.
You need to submit it at the tax office (Finanzamt) in the district where you completed your Anmeldung (step 2 above). For example, if you registered at an address in Mitte, then you need to submit the form at the Mitte Tax Office.
✅ Option 2 – Online via Sorted (recommended)
Rather than battling through the lengthy freelance tax number form (only available in German) and lining up at the tax office, a much easier option is to use the services of Sorted. Sorted offers a fantastic online service that guides you through the freelance tax number form in English. Once completed, Sorted will even submit it to the local tax office (Finanzamt) for you. And best of all, this service is completely free.
See our blog post for further info on how Sorted can help you set up and manage your freelance business in Berlin.
📬 Once you have submitted your form, you will generally receive your freelance tax number (Steuernummer) in the post after approximately 3–6 weeks, after which you can start invoicing clients and receiving payment.
N.B! The Steuernummer (Freelance Tax Number) is different from the Steueridentifikationsnummer (German Tax ID) that you receive once you have registered your address in Berlin (step 2 above).
🎉 If you are classified as a Freiberufler / freelancer (see section 3 above), this is the final step in your set up as a freelancer, and you can now start working full-time as a freelancer in Germany!
If you are classified as a Gewerbetreibender / self-employed (see section 3 above), you must also officially register your business in addition to submitting your freelance tax form at your local Finanzamt. Instructions for this can be found in step 7 below.
7️⃣ Registering your business as a Gewerbetreibender / self-employed worker
If you are classified as a self-employed worker (see section 3 above). Then you also need to:
register your business (Gewerbe) with your local trade office (Gewerbeamt). Instructions for registering your business in Berlin can be found here. For other parts of Germany, you can find your local Gewerbeamt here.
🛠️ We also recommend that you get in touch with your local Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) or Chamber of Skilled Crafts (Handwerkskammer) in Germany to find out if there are any additional permits you need to legally run your business. You can find your local IHK here.
🎉 This is the final step in your set up as a self-employed worker and you can now start working full-time in your self-employed profession!
✅ I hope you have found this guide to setting up as a Freiberufler (freelancer) in Germany helpful. For information on how to actually operate as a freelancer (invoicing, bookkeeping, paying taxes, etc.), see our other guide on how to run your freelance business in Germany.
For more general relocation information on how to move to Berlin, check out our homepage and free relocation resources.