How much can you earn as a freelancer in Germany? (2025)
Peter
Updated on:
May 8, 2025
⚡️ Full-time freelancers in Germany invoice about €63,000 a year on average (≈ €5,250 a month). In 2025, the first €12,096 of profit is income-tax-free, and if you stayed below € 25k last year and stay under € 100k this year, you can still skip charging VAT.
What’s a realistic income when you strike out on your own in Germany, and how much of it do you actually keep? Recent studies show that full-time freelancers now gross roughly €63,000 per year, with high-demand tech and consulting specialists topping the charts.
Yet headline figures tell only half the story. From 2025, you’ll enjoy a larger basic allowance of €12,096 before income tax even starts, while the revamped small-business rules let many newcomers forget about VAT altogether—provided last year’s turnover was under €25k and you stay below €100k this year.
In the guide that follows, we’ll map out real-world earning ranges by sector, show you how to back-calculate a profitable day-rate, and walk through every tax and social-security lever that shapes your net take-home pay—empowering you with the knowledge to price with confidence and keep more of what you earn.
Income potential at a glance
Why start here? Because price drives every later tax-and-compliance decision. Below you’ll find the going market rates German clients are actually paying in 2025, taken from the latest 3,000-respondent Freelancer-Kompass study plus press-coverage cross-checks.
Field (top 7 by demand) | Avg. hourly rate | Range | Month-level gross* | Year-level gross* |
Consulting & Management | €118 | €95 – €142 | €15,200 | €162,800 |
€117 | €94 – €140 | €15,100 | €161,500 | |
IT Infrastructure | €102 | €82 – €122 | €13,200 | €140,800 |
Development / Tech / Data | €100 | €80 – €120 | €12,900 | €138,000 |
Engineering | €95 | €76 – €114 | €12,300 | €131,100 |
Marketing & Communication | €92 | €74 – €110 | €11,900 | €127,000 |
Graphics, Content & Media | €82 | €65 – €98 | €10,600 | €113,200 |
* Assumes a realistic 30 billable hrs/week, 46 working weeks, i.e., 1,380 billable hrs/year. Use it to spot order-of-magnitude potential; actual take-home depends on utilisation, costs, and tax setup.
Key takeaways:
Six-figure earnings are normal. Even mid-pack rates in IT or engineering clear € 130k before expenses.
Specialisation wins. Advisory and SAP work command a 15-20 % premium over “pure” development.
The overall market keeps climbing. The all-sector mean hit €104 / h this year, up from €102 in 2024.
Rate dispersion matters. Targeting the 75th percentile can lift yearly gross by € 25- 30k without adding hours.
What drives your rate?
The headline €104-per-hour national average is only the starting grid. Seven core levers push you far above—or below—that line:
⚙️ Lever | How it moves your price |
1. Specialisation & Scarcity | Niche expertise commands premiums. Consulting/management and SAP command €120–€119 /hr, ~15 % over the all-sector mean. |
2. Years in the game | Clients pay for certainty—veterans (>10 yrs) and late-career experts (> 69 yrs) clear €106 /hr+, vs. juniors in the €70s. |
3. Hot-skill tailwinds | Demand for AI, machine learning, cloud & cybersecurity rose 70 % since 2022; those roles leapfrog the average by 20-30 %. |
4. Client profile | Enterprise budgets stretch further: almost 1 in 5 German freelancers now sell to large corporations, typically at higher day-rates than SME gigs. |
5. Location & delivery model | On-paper geography still matters: top state Schleswig-Holstein averages €105/hr, while Bremen lags at €67. Remote work (60 % of projects) narrows—but doesn’t erase—those gaps. |
6. Credibility signals | Recognised certifications, thought-leadership content, and a polished portfolio shorten negotiation cycles and let you push to the 75th percentile (≈ €125 /hr in IT). Harder to quantify, but echoed consistently in client surveys. |
7. Utilisation & risk buffer | Your billable-hour ratio (often 60-70 %) plus holiday/bench risk dictates the minimum sustainable rate. 41 % of freelancers already plan a price hike in 2025 to offset inflation and non-billable time. |
Mini-case: Why Marie, the Data-Engineer, bills €140/hr
14 years’ specialised experience in real-time analytics pipelines
Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer + AWS Big Data certs
Works 80 % with Tier-1 automotive clients on AI-safety projects (high compliance risk)
Remote-first but onsite when models go into production—adds a “boots-on-ground” surcharge
Keeps bench days below 20 %, letting her defend a €140/hr sticker, 35 % over the national mean.
Action check-list
Benchmark your niche against the table above and freelancermap’s public dashboards.
Audit your portfolio for scarce, demonstrable outcomes (e.g., “cut ETL costs 30 %”).
Match clients to ambition—enterprise programmes for premium pricing; fast-growth SMEs for volume.
Schedule an annual uplift—inflation alone added €2/hr industry-wide last year.
Track your billable ratio monthly; raise rates if it dips below 60 %.
How to Calculate Your Ideal Daily & Hourly Rate
TL;DR formula:
(Desired net pay + annual business costs + tax/social buffer) ÷ billable hours × mark-up = target hourly rate
Multiply by 8 for a German-style Tagessatz (day rate).
Below is the step-by-step method most German freelancers use—complete with fresh market benchmarks—so you can slot in your numbers and hit a sustainable price.
Step | What to do | Typical 2025 Benchmarks & Tips |
1. Set your take-home goal | Decide how much you want in your pocket after everything—e.g. €60 000. | Full-time German freelancers average €8 022 gross per month (≈ €63 k net if costs are lean). |
2. Add annual business costs | Office, gear, software, insurance, marketing, travel, training, pension top-ups. | IT pros report ≈ €20 k – €25 k fixed costs. |
3. Add a tax & social buffer | In Germany, income-tax + health + pension easily lands at 30 %–35 % of profit; add this on top. | A 30 % flat buffer keeps most freelancers safe from back-payments. |
4. Find realistic billable hours | Start with 52 weeks × 5 days × 8 hrs = 2 080 hrs. - Vacation, sick, training, admin. - Apply the 60 % billable rule. | 60 % billable time (≈ 1 200–1 400 hrs/yr) is the industry standard. |
5. Crunch the base rate | (Net goal + costs + tax buffer) ÷ billable hours. | See worked example below. |
6. Add a profit / risk mark-up | 10 %–20 % cushions inflation, late payments & bench days. | 41 % of German freelancers plan a rate hike in 2025. |
7. Convert to a day rate | Hourly × 8 = Tagessatz. | Average Tagessatz 2025: €832 (104 €/h × 8). |
Worked example (swap in your figures)
Item | Calculation |
Desired net income | €60 000 |
+ Annual business costs | €20 000 |
+ 30 % tax/social buffer | (60 000 + 20 000) × 0.30 = €24 000 |
= Revenue target | €104 000 |
÷ Billable hours | 1 380 hrs (60 % of a 46-week year) |
= Base hourly rate | €75 / h |
+ 15 % mark-up | €75 × 1.15 = €86 / h |
⇨ Ideal Tagessatz | €86 × 8 = €688 per day |
Reality check: Compare €86/h with the current €104 national average and your sector median.
Pro tips for fine-tuning
Track utilisation monthly. If your billable ratio drops below 60 %, raise rates or cut non-billable overhead.
Index to inflation yearly. A 2 €/h bump keeps pace with Germany’s 2024-25 CPI.
Quote by project when possible. Productised packages often beat time-and-materials by 20 %+ on margin.
Keep tax cushions liquid. Park 30 % of every invoice in a separate account so Q3 pre-payments don’t sting.
Review after each big win. New certification or marquee client? That’s your signal for a 10 % nudge.
Part-time vs full-time freelancing: the income milestones
Before you drown in tax jargon, check where your current (or projected) turnover lands on Germany’s ladder of game-changing thresholds. Each step flips at least one rule on tax, health insurance, or legal status.
Annual / Monthly earnings | What happens at (or above) this level? |
≤ €535 profit / month (≈ €6 420 p.a.) | You can stay in a spouse’s or parent’s statutory family health insurance for €0. One euro more and you must insure yourself. |
Side-gig zone Max ≈ 18 hrs/week and freelance income < salaried pay | Your business counts as “nebenberuflich” (part-time). You keep full employee social-security cover and usually need no extra pension payments. |
Up to €25 000 turnover (prev. yr) & €100 000 (this yr) | Stay inside the Kleinunternehmer regime → no VAT, no advance returns. Cross the €100 k ceiling once and you’re instantly in standard VAT—start adding 19 % from that invoice onward. |
> €535 / month but billable time still part-time | Family insurance ends → choose voluntary statutory (GKV) or private (PKV). Costs now scale with profit. |
≈ €5 512 profit / month (BBG 2025: €66 150 p.a.) | You hit the GKV contribution cap; health-insurance payments stop growing—effective rate falls the higher you earn. |
€6 150 gross salary equivalent / month (Versicherungspflichtgrenze 2025) | Employees could exit public insurance entirely; as a freelancer you’re already free, but this figure is a handy benchmark for “full-time, high-earner”. |
How to use the ladder
Testing the waters? Keep hours < 18 per week and profit under €535/m so you pay exactly €0 for health coverage while you validate your idea.
Ready to scale? Plan your marketing push so that you jump straight from ~€ 24k to well above € 30k turnover; otherwise, you’ll add 19 % VAT but still earn hobby money.
Approaching the BBG? Once your monthly profit hovers near €5,5k, every extra euro goes further—you’re already paying the maximum GKV premium. Consider a pension top-up instead of a random laptop upgrade.
Side-gig forever? Remember the one-fifth rule: your freelance hours must stay below 20 % of your employee working time, or social insurers will treat you as full-time self-employed.
Reality check: 58 % of German freelancers cross the Kleinunternehmer limit within their first two years. If you’re on that trajectory, start quoting VAT-inclusive prices now so the switch doesn’t spook clients.
Understanding “Freelancer” status in german law
Before worrying about rates or VAT, make sure you qualify as a Freiberufler—because the label decides whether you pay trade tax, must join the Chamber of Commerce, or keep double-entry books.
The legal test: § 18 EStG
Germany’s Income-Tax Act (§ 18 EStG) lists the so-called Katalogberufe—the “catalogue” professions that are automatically treated as freelance when carried out independently:
Medical & healing: doctors, dentists, physiotherapists
Legal & fiscal: lawyers, notaries, tax advisers, auditors
STEM & design: engineers, architects, surveyors, IT scientists
Creative & knowledge: journalists, translators, writers, artists, educators, scientists, consultants, etc.
If your job is similar (“ähnlich”) to one of these—e.g., a UX designer to an “artist”, a data-scientist to an “engineer”—the Finanzamt can still accept you as freelance. The key criteria are: personal expertise, intellectual work, and no industrial scale.
Freiberufler vs Gewerbetreibender—why it matters
Freiberufler (true freelancer) | Gewerbetreibender (trader / business) |
✓ No Gewerbesteuer (trade tax) | ✗ Pays trade tax (average 14 % on profit) |
✓ No trade-office registration | ✗ Must register a Gewerbe and update if activities change |
✓ Simple cash accounting (EÜR) | ✗ May need double-entry accounts & annual balance sheet |
✓ No mandatory IHK/HWK fee | ✗ Chamber membership fees apply |
✓ Easier visa renewals for “liberal professions” | ✗ Residence permit assessed as commercial activity |
Step across the line, and the costs add up quickly—one Berlin founder was back-billed 2 ½ years of trade tax after the Finanzamt reclassified her copywriting GmbH as a commercial “agency.”
Who decides? (Hint: not you)
You file the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung when you start.
The Finanzamt reviews your description, CV, diplomas, and portfolio.
They issue a tax number and either tick selbständige Arbeit (freelance) or Gewerbebetrieb (trade).
Expect follow-up questions if your profession sits in a grey zone—e.g., software developer vs SaaS reseller.
If misclassified, you can appeal; if you guessed wrong, expect retroactive trade tax plus IHK dues.
Practical tips to secure freelance status
Use recognised titles. “Consultant neuro-engineer” maps neatly to the engineer category; “growth hacker” does not.
Stress personal intellectual input—show sample reports, by-lined articles, code commits.
Avoid product sales on the same invoice. Selling software licences or merch, drags you toward trade status; keep a separate entity if necessary.
Choose the correct legal form. A GmbH is always commercial—even if you paint water-colours. Stay a sole proprietor (Einzelunternehmer) or partnership (PartG) if you want freelancer privileges.
Master this distinction early, and you’ll save thousands in unnecessary taxes and admin headaches, freeing up cash to invest back into the high-value skills that actually raise your rate.
The basic tax-free allowance (Grundfreibetrag)
Germany’s Grundfreibetrag guarantees that income needed for basic living costs stays untaxed. For 2025, the allowance rises to €12.096 per person or €24.192 for jointly assessed couples.
Why it matters
Automatic shield. The allowance is baked into the income-tax tariff; you don’t have to “apply” for it—every euro you earn above the threshold is the only part that enters the progressive scale.
Cold-progression fix. Lawmakers adjust the amount almost every year so inflation doesn’t drag low incomes into the tax net.
Recent and upcoming amounts (singles)
Year | Tax-free amount |
2022 | €10 347 |
2023 | €10 908 |
2024 | €11 784 |
2025 | €12 096 |
Planned 2026 | €12 348 (draft) |
Quick savings snapshot
At €30.000 taxable profit, the higher 2025 allowance cuts your income tax bill by about €520 compared with 2024.
Couples who split income unevenly still benefit from the doubled allowance, especially under Germany’s Ehegattensplitting rules.
Takeaway for rate-setting: When you ran the pricing formula, the first €12.096 profit was already tax-free. Any euro you add on top now falls into the 14 % starter bracket, so pushing your hourly rate by €5 can translate into nearly €4 of extra take-home once you’re past the allowance.
VAT & the Small-Business Threshold (Kleinunternehmerregelung)
What is Kleinunternehmerregelung
Germany waives VAT obligations for micro-entrepreneurs who stay inside two turnover fences. You don’t charge VAT, don’t file advance returns, and (from 2025) don’t even send a “Null” VAT return.
2025 limits at a glance
Test moment | Ceiling | Notes |
Turnover last calendar year | ≤ €25 000 | Up from 22 000. Crossing it retroactively disqualifies you next year. |
Projected / actual turnover this year | ≤ €100 000 | Double the old 50 000 cap. Exceed it mid-year and you switch to regular VAT from the very next invoice; earlier sales stay VAT-free. |
EU-wide ceiling | €100 000 | Lets you keep the exemption when you sell to clients in any other EU state—after a one-off portal registration. |
Scenario: You hit €100.000 turnover on 31 Aug 2025. From 1 Sep 2025, every new invoice must show 19 % VAT; earlier invoices remain untouched.
Opt-in or opt-out?
Route | Upsides | Downsides |
Stay Kleinunternehmer (default if below limits) | * Zero VAT on invoices – attractive to B2C clients. * No USt-Voranmeldungen or annual return. * Exempt from Germany’s 2025 e-invoicing mandate. | * Can’t reclaim input VAT on laptops, SaaS, co-working rent. * Some corporates prefer suppliers with VAT ID. * If you cross €100 k mid-year you must re-price instantly. |
Voluntary standard VAT (by ticking box on the ELSTER form) | * Reclaim 19 % input VAT – offsets high setup costs. * Looks “bigger” to enterprise buyers. * No messy price jump later. | * Monthly/quarterly filings, cash-flow lag. * VAT on B2C prices unless you swallow it. |
Lock-in rule: Once you waive the exemption, you’re bound to regular VAT for five calendar years.
Pricing playbook
B2B focus? Go straight to standard VAT—clients reclaim it anyway, and you bank the input tax.
B2C heavy or side-gig? Use Kleinunternehmer to undercut gross prices or improve margin by ~16 %.
Approaching €80–90k? Pre-notify clients that your rates are “plus VAT if applicable” so the 100k switch doesn’t break budgets.
Big CapEx year ahead? Opt out, reclaim 19 % on that €5.000 MacBook, then decide later whether to return (allowed after five years).
Quick decision checklist
☐ My 2024 turnover was under € 25k
☐ 2025 forecast safely below € 80k (leave headroom)
☐ Input-VAT on costs is low (mainly labour)
☐ The majority of clients are consumers or micro-firms
Tick all four? Stay Kleinunternehmer. Miss one? Crunch the math on voluntary VAT.
Income-tax brackets for freelancers
Germany’s income tax is progressive: the more you earn, the higher the marginal rate—but only the slice above each threshold is charged at the higher percentage. For 2025, the Grundfreibetrag of € 12.096 is tax-free; the next tiers rise gradually from 14% to a top rate of 45%.
2025 brackets (singles, after the basic allowance)
Band | Taxable profit (€) | Marginal rate |
1 | 0 – 12 096 | 0 % |
2 | 12 097 – 17 443 | 14 → 24 % (smooth curve) |
3 | 17 444 – 68 481 | 24 → 42 % (linear-progressive) |
4 | 68 482 – 277 825 | 42 % flat |
5 | 277 826 + | 45 % “rich-tax” band |
(Couples assessed jointly double the thresholds.)
Solidarity surcharge: only due once your income-tax bill exceeds about €17.000; 90 % of freelancers pay zero Soli since its 2021 reform.
What do those bands mean in euros?
Profit after expenses | Income-tax bill* | Effective rate |
€25 000 | ≈ €3 500 | 14 % |
€60 000 | ≈ €15 100 | 25 % |
€120 000 | ≈ €39 500 | 33 % |
*Calculated with the 2025 Grundtarif and rounded; solidarity surcharge and church tax not included.
Reading the table
First €12.096 stays yours. Tax only starts on €12.097.
Marginal ≠ effective rate. Earn €70.000 and only the top €1.500 is hit by 42 %.
Crossing €68.482 doesn’t explode your bill—on a €70.000 profit, the extra 42 % tranche adds just €630.
Tactics to smooth the curve
Delay or forward expenses (laptop, training) to dip below the bracket edge in a fat year.
Voluntary pension contributions lower taxable profit and boost retirement cover—a double win.
Split income in a partnership or married joint filing to use two allowances and soften progression.
Social contributions: Mandatory & optional
Unlike income tax, where you can simply set money aside, German social insurance has hard rules and ceilings. If you get them wrong, the health fund will back-bill you with penalties, so treat the figures below as non-negotiable budget items.
Contribution | Mandatory for all freelancers? | 2025 Rate / Ceiling | What you actually pay |
Statutory health insurance (GKV) – or a private policy (PKV) | Yes (some insurance is compulsory) | Base rate 14.6 % + avg. Zusatzbeitrag 1.7 % = 16.3 % of profit² up to the €66,150 income cap (BBG)³ | Full-time profit €5 000 / m → ≈ €815 GKV. Above €5 512 / m the payment flattens out (cap reached). |
Long-term care (PV) | Yes (paired with health cover) | 3.6 % of the same income base⁴ | Adds €180 on the €5 000 example. |
Pension (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) | Only for catalogue groups (e.g. teachers, midwives) or via KSK; otherwise voluntary | 18.6 % up to €8 050 / m (unified DRV cap)⁵ | A designer in the KSK pays just half (the fund matches the rest). |
Accident insurance (Berufsgenossenschaft) | Sector-specific (e.g. crafts, trades); optional for most creatives/IT | Industry risk class | From €80 to €300 per year for office-based work. |
Unemployment insurance (freiwillig) | Optional – must opt-in during first 3 months of self-employment | Fixed class contributions (West €87, East €75 / m in 2025) | Good safety net for new founders. |
Private add-ons (BU, Haftpflicht, Rürup, etc.) | Optional but prudent | Market rates | Budget another €100–250 / m for liability + disability; Rürup is tax-deductible. |
² Rate: 14.6 % base + 1.7 % avg. Zusatzbeitrag announced for 2025
³ Beitragsbemessungsgrenze (health) rises to €66.150 p.a. / €5.512,50 m
⁴ PV contribution climbs to 3.6 % from 1 Jan 2025
⁵ Unified DRV cap set at €8.050 m across Germany
What do these numbers mean for your rate?
A solo freelancer with €60.000 profit hands over €995/m for GKV+PV alone—nearly 20 % of profit.
Hit the BBG and every extra euro is contribution-free in health and care, so the effective burden drops sharply.
If you qualify for the Künstlersozialkasse, your health, care, and pension costs are halved; build that advantage into your pricing.
3 quick optimisation tactics
Choose the right insurer early. Switching from GKV to PKV later is possible, but it becomes expensive once you reach 40 and your health record thickens.
Ring-fence 30 % of every invoice into a separate account. That bucket covers tax and social outlays, so quarterly prepayments don’t choke cash flow.
Use Rürup (Basisrente) for voluntary retirement savings. Contributions are 100 % deductible up to €27 565 in 2025, which is often more efficient than shoving cash into ETFs post-tax.
Keep more of your money: Deductible costs & pro tips
Even a “headline” day-rate can leak 30% or more if you miss the right write-offs or pay taxes too early. Use the checklist below to plug the most common holes in a German freelancer’s bucket.
Fast deductions you might be missing
Category | What you can write off | 2025 rules to know |
Either the room deduction (pro-rata rent, utilities, insurance) if the room is used almost exclusively for business or the new € 6 flat-rate per WFH day, capped at € 1 ,260 p.a. |
| |
Laptops, cameras, phones, SaaS subscriptions, external monitors … | Assets bought after 31 Dec 2023 that cost ≤ € 1 ,000 net are now “low-value assets” (GWG) and fully deductible in year 1. | |
Training & conferences | Course fees, exams, trade-fair tickets, travel costs and even learning-platform subscriptions. | Must be demonstrably job-related—keep agendas & receipts. |
€ 0.30/km (car) or actual public-transport costs, plus overnight allowance & meals per-diem at BMF rates. | Combine with the home-office flat-rate only on different days. | |
Liability, legal-expenses, disability cover, cyber-insurance. | 100 % deductible as operating expense. | |
Health & pension | Statutory or private health + long-term-care premiums and Rürup (basic) pension contributions. | From 2025, contributions are 100 % deductible up to € 28 ,091 (single) / € 56 ,182 (married). |
Marketing & subcontractors | Ads, SEO tools, design assets, freelance help. | Treat subcontractor invoices exactly like any other cost—plus claim VAT credit (see below). |
Telecom & cloud | Mobile plan, broadband, hosting, cloud compute time. | If there’s private use, split the invoice (e.g. 80 % business). |
Business-account charges, payment-processor fees, foreign-exchange spreads. | Download monthly CSVs so your software tags them automatically. |
🫣 Don’t fear leaving the Kleinunternehmer regime - Charging VAT lets you reclaim the 19 % input tax on big-ticket gear, software, and co-working rent; the savings often outweigh the admin.
Timing moves that slash the tax bill
Move | Why it works |
Bring forward costs – Pay annual SaaS, insurance, or training before 31 December. | Immediate deduction in the current (higher-profit) year. |
Defer revenue – Shift low-urgency invoices into January if you’re near a higher tax bracket in December. | Germany’s progressive income tax resets 1 Jan. |
“10-day rule” for recurring expenses | Regular expenses paid in the first 10 days of January (e.g., rent) can still belong to the prior year if they were due in December. |
Top up Rürup just before year-end | Directly reduces taxable income—effectively turns a pension deposit into a 42 %+ tax saving if you’re in the top bracket. |
Workflow tips to lock the savings in
Segregate cash. Sweep 30 % of every incoming invoice to a “tax & social” sub-account so quarterly pre-payments and GKV premiums never starve operations.
Digitise every receipt the moment you get it (phone-cam + auto-OCR). Missing paperwork = lost deductions.
Tag private use immediately (e.g., 20 % of the phone bill) instead of guessing twelve months later.
Review your chart of accounts once a year. The GWG limit just jumped to € 1.000; update bookkeeping rules so new purchases under that figure drop straight into expenses.
Master these deductions and timing plays, and you can easily claw back €5–€10k a year, often the difference between a middling and a standout effective hourly rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can I earn tax-free in 2025?
The basic income-tax allowance (Grundfreibetrag) rises to €12.096 for singles and €24.192 for jointly assessed couples. Only profit above that figure is taxed.
What are the new Kleinunternehmer limits?
From 1 Jan 2025, you keep the VAT-free small-business status if
your previous year's turnover stayed below € 25.000, and
the current-year turnover does not exceed € 100.000.
Cross either ceiling, and you will switch to regular VAT immediately.
I’ve just issued an invoice that pushes me over € 100.000 this year – what now?
That invoice (and every one after it) must include 19 % VAT; earlier invoices remain VAT-free. You must also file advance VAT returns from the next period onward.
Is there a legal cap on freelance income?
No. You can invoice any amount your clients will pay. The only “caps” are social-insurance ceilings (e.g., health contributions stop rising above € 66.150 profit). Tax rates, however, continue up to 42%/45%.
Do genuine Freiberufler pay trade tax (Gewerbesteuer)?
No. As long as the Finanzamt recognises your activity as a liberal profession under § 18 EStG, you owe zero trade tax and need no trade-office registration.
How much can I earn and still stay in family health insurance?
The 2025 income cap for free family cover in statutory health insurance is €556 per month. One euro more and you must insure yourself.
When do the social-insurance funds treat me as full-time self-employed?
Rule of thumb: if your freelance work takes more than ≈ 18 hours a week or the profit exceeds your salary from employment, you are considered a main-profession self-employed and must pay your health insurance contributions.
How much should I set aside for taxes and social levies?
A practical buffer is 30 % of every invoice: ~16 % covers health & care insurance (until the cap), ~14 % covers income tax for a € 60k profit scenario. Adjust upward if your profit climbs into higher brackets or you pay pension contributions voluntarily.
Key takeaways & next steps
Six-figure potential is normal: Median full-time freelancers earn ≈ €63k, and pushing to the 75th percentile can add another €25-30k without extra hours.
Price from the bottom up: Net-income goal + costs + 30 % tax-and-social buffer, divided by real billable hours, then add a 10-20 % profit safety margin.
Mind the milestones: € 25k/€100k turnover for VAT, € 66k profit for the health-insurance cap, and € 12k profit that stays tax-free.
Claim every cent: Home-office, training, and investments in equipment can save €5-10k annually.
Status first, admin later: Secure your § 18 EStG freelancer recognition to dodge trade tax and heavy accounting obligations.
Ready to start? Register as a freelancer online in minutes—100 % free.