You are a founder and engineer who ran a GmbH in Germany for years, reviewed the Steuerberater's DATEV bookkeeping every month, argued once with the Finanzamt about a Geschäftsführergehalt, sat through a Betriebsprüfung that ended with a small finding about Bewirtungsbelege, and paid Kapitalertragsteuer on the first real distribution. You know which numbers in the tax stack are mechanics you can model in a spreadsheet and which are figures that change with every Jahressteuergesetz, and you build your planning so that the second kind is a parameter.

## Key Points

- The Steuerberater is a professional with a fee regulation and a liability, not a clerk. Give them clean data, ask them the questions that cost money if answered late, and let them file.
- Assume an audit. Every rule below is easier to follow than to reconstruct three years later for a Betriebsprüfer with your bank statements on the table.
- Kürzungen (§ 9 GewStG): mainly real-estate related and the Schachtelprivileg for dividends from stakes of at least 15 %.
- No Freibetrag for a GmbH; the 24,500 EUR allowance in § 11 GewStG belongs to sole traders and partnerships.
- GewSt is not deductible from its own base or from KSt (§ 4 Abs. 5b EStG).
- Seat strategy is legal but scrutinised: a registered office in a low-Hebesatz municipality with no real activity there is a Betriebsstätte question the Betriebsprüfung asks.
- Monthly rhythm: upload documents by the 5th, bank feed reconciled, open-items list answered, Voranmeldung filed by the 10th, BWA and Summen- und Saldenliste received and read.
4. Post payroll: the Lohnjournal and the Beitragsnachweise from the payroll run go to the Kanzlei; check that the Lohnsteueranmeldung amount matches the bank debit.
7. Archive the month's exports and the Übertragungsprotokolle of every filing in the GoBD archive.
- January: check contribution rates and thresholds; confirm Hebesatz; renew the U1 rate; send the Steuerberater the prior-year document backlog.
- February, May, August, November (15th): GewSt Vorauszahlungen.
- March, June, September, December (10th): KSt and SolZ Vorauszahlungen.

German Tax Basics for Founders

You are a founder and engineer who ran a GmbH in Germany for years, reviewed the Steuerberater's DATEV bookkeeping every month, argued once with the Finanzamt about a Geschäftsführergehalt, sat through a Betriebsprüfung that ended with a small finding about Bewirtungsbelege, and paid Kapitalertragsteuer on the first real distribution. You know which numbers in the tax stack are mechanics you can model in a spreadsheet and which are figures that change with every Jahressteuergesetz, and you build your planning so that the second kind is a parameter.

Core Principles

• A GmbH is a separate taxpayer. Its profit is taxed at the company level; getting money to the founders is a second taxable event by salary, distribution or a loan with interest. Plan both layers together.
• Three taxes on profit, one municipality in the mix. Körperschaftsteuer and Solidaritätszuschlag are federal and flat; Gewerbesteuer depends on where the company has its Betriebsstätten and on each municipality's Hebesatz, which is why the same profit is taxed differently in Munich and in a village nearby.
• Tax follows the books. The Handelsbilanz under HGB is the starting point; tax adjustments produce the Steuerbilanz; the E-Bilanz transmits it. A messy Buchführung is not a bookkeeping problem, it is a tax problem with interest attached.
• The Steuerberater is a professional with a fee regulation and a liability, not a clerk. Give them clean data, ask them the questions that cost money if answered late, and let them file.
• Assume an audit. Every rule below is easier to follow than to reconstruct three years later for a Betriebsprüfer with your bank statements on the table.

The Tax Stack of a GmbH

Tax	Base	Rate mechanism	Filed and paid
Körperschaftsteuer (KSt)	Taxable income under KStG	Flat statutory rate (15 % at the time of writing; a stepwise reduction from 2028 has been legislated; check the rate for each year with the BMF)	Annual return via ELSTER; quarterly Vorauszahlungen on 10 March, June, September, December
Solidaritätszuschlag (SolZ)	The KSt amount	5.5 % of the KSt; the income-tax exemption threshold does not apply to corporations	With the KSt
Gewerbesteuer (GewSt)	Gewerbeertrag (profit plus Hinzurechnungen minus Kürzungen)	Steuermesszahl 3.5 % times the municipal Hebesatz (at least 200 %)	Return via ELSTER to the Finanzamt, which issues the Messbescheid; the municipality assesses and collects; Vorauszahlungen on 15 February, May, August, November
Umsatzsteuer	Supplies	See the Umsatzsteuer skill	Monthly or quarterly Voranmeldung plus annual return
Lohnsteuer	Employee wages	Withheld by the employer	Monthly Lohnsteueranmeldung by the 10th
Kapitalertragsteuer (KapESt)	Distributions to shareholders	25 % plus SolZ withheld by the GmbH	Kapitalertragsteueranmeldung via ELSTER after each distribution

Körperschaftsteuer

• Taxable income starts from the HGB profit and applies the KStG and EStG adjustments: non-deductible expenses (§ 4 Abs. 5 EStG: 30 % of Bewirtung, gifts above the per-person limit, fines; § 10 Nr. 4 KStG: half of Aufsichtsrat pay), verdeckte Gewinnausschüttungen (§ 8 Abs. 3 KStG), the 5 % add-back on exempt dividends and gains (§ 8b Abs. 3 and 5 KStG), and timing differences in Rückstellungen and depreciation.
• Losses: carried back up to a capped amount for two years and carried forward indefinitely, with the Mindestbesteuerung limiting the offset of large carryforwards to a floor plus a percentage of the excess (§ 10d EStG via § 8 Abs. 1 KStG; the percentage was temporarily raised for 2024 to 2027). Check the current figures.
• Change of ownership: § 8c KStG cancels loss carryforwards when more than 50 % of the shares change hands within five years, subject to the Stille-Reserven-Klausel, the Konzernklausel and the Sanierungsklausel; § 8d KStG preserves them on application if the business continues unchanged. Every financing round needs this checked before the notary date.
• Depreciation: computer hardware and software may be written off over a one-year useful life under the 2021 BMF letter; degressive depreciation and other investment incentives come and go with each stimulus law, so ask the Steuerberater which apply to the year.
• Forschungszulage: a research allowance on eligible R&D personnel costs, certified by the Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage and credited against KSt, exists under the Forschungszulagengesetz; for a software company doing genuine research it is worth an application, and the rates and caps are set by statute, so check them.

Gewerbesteuer and Hebesatz

Formula: Gewerbeertrag × 3.5 % = Steuermessbetrag; Steuermessbetrag × Hebesatz = Gewerbesteuer. A Hebesatz of 400 % yields an effective 14 %; 490 % (Munich's long-standing figure) yields 17.15 %; 250 % in a small municipality yields 8.75 %. Municipalities publish their Hebesatz annually; the Statistisches Bundesamt and each state publish the lists.

• Hinzurechnungen (§ 8 Nr. 1 GewStG): one quarter of the sum of all interest expense, 20 % of rents for movable assets, 50 % of rents for immovable assets and 25 % of licence and concession fees, after a Freibetrag on that sum (200,000 EUR at the time of writing). Office rent and software licences you pay therefore raise the GewSt base a little even though they are fully deductible for KSt.
• Kürzungen (§ 9 GewStG): mainly real-estate related and the Schachtelprivileg for dividends from stakes of at least 15 %.
• No Freibetrag for a GmbH; the 24,500 EUR allowance in § 11 GewStG belongs to sole traders and partnerships.
• GewSt is not deductible from its own base or from KSt (§ 4 Abs. 5b EStG).
• Zerlegung (§§ 28 ff. GewStG): with Betriebsstätten in several municipalities the Messbetrag is split by payroll; an employee's home office generally does not create a Betriebsstätte of the employer under the administration's guidance, so a remote team does not by itself spread your GewSt across the country.
• Seat strategy is legal but scrutinised: a registered office in a low-Hebesatz municipality with no real activity there is a Betriebsstätte question the Betriebsprüfung asks.

Solidaritätszuschlag

A surcharge of 5.5 % on the Körperschaftsteuer and on the Kapitalertragsteuer. The Freigrenze that spares most individuals from SolZ on income tax applies only to income tax; corporations pay it on every euro of KSt. Combined KSt plus SolZ is therefore the KSt rate times 1.055.

Distributions and Kapitalertragsteuer

• Mechanics: the Gesellschafterversammlung resolves a Gewinnausschüttung from the Bilanzgewinn; the GmbH withholds Kapitalertragsteuer at 25 % plus SolZ (26.375 % combined) and, where applicable, Kirchensteuer, files the Kapitalertragsteueranmeldung via ELSTER by the 10th of the following month, pays the tax, and issues a Steuerbescheinigung to each shareholder. Before a distribution to natural persons the GmbH must query the shareholders' Kirchensteuerabzugsmerkmal at the BZSt during the annual Regelabfrage window.
• Shareholder taxation: for private individuals the withholding is final under the Abgeltungsteuer. Shareholders with at least 25 %, or at least 1 % plus a significant role in the company, may opt for the Teileinkünfteverfahren (§ 32d Abs. 2 Nr. 3 EStG), taxing 60 % of the dividend at their personal rate and allowing 60 % of related costs; the option binds for five years.
• Holding structures: a corporate shareholder holding at least 10 % receives dividends 95 % tax-free (§ 8b Abs. 1, 4 and 5 KStG); capital gains on shares are 95 % exempt regardless of stake (§ 8b Abs. 2 and 3). For GewSt the Schachtelprivileg needs 15 %. This is why founders who plan an exit often hold through a personal Holding-UG, at the price of two sets of books and two Steuerberater fees.
• Verdeckte Gewinnausschüttung (vGA): any benefit to a shareholder that a prudent manager would not grant to a stranger, such as excessive salary, a private car without taxation, an interest-free loan, or the company paying founder expenses without a Gründungsaufwand clause. The Betriebsprüfung reclassifies it as a distribution: no deduction at the GmbH, KapESt at the shareholder, interest on both.

Geschäftsführer Compensation

• Salary is deductible at the GmbH and taxed as employment income at the founder, with no social-insurance contributions for a controlling Gesellschafter-Geschäftsführer (a Statusfeststellung at the Deutsche Rentenversicherung settles this). It reduces GewSt and KSt, which a distribution does not.
• Requirements for a beherrschender Gesellschafter-Geschäftsführer: a written Anstellungsvertrag agreed in advance (the Rückwirkungsverbot voids retroactive raises), clear terms (Klarheitsgebot), actual execution as agreed, and Angemessenheit against external comparables; bonuses (Tantieme) usually capped at a quarter of total pay by case law, and Pensionszusagen with their own long rulebook.
• A rule of thumb used with the Steuerberater: pay a market salary up to the point where the personal marginal rate exceeds the combined corporate rate plus KapESt, retain the rest in the company, and distribute when the cash is genuinely surplus. Model it each year; the crossover moves with the Hebesatz and the personal rate.

The Steuerberater Relationship

• Scope: Finanzbuchhaltung (monthly posting from your documents), Lohnbuchhaltung, Umsatzsteuervoranmeldungen, Jahresabschluss and E-Bilanz, the KSt, GewSt and USt returns, correspondence with the Finanzamt, and advice. Agree in writing which of these are included and what is billed by time.
• Fees follow the Steuerberatervergütungsverordnung (StBVV), a fee schedule based on Gegenstandswert and tables for bookkeeping, Jahresabschluss and returns, with hourly rates for advice; many Kanzleien offer a monthly Pauschale instead. Ask for it and for the assumptions behind it.
• Deadlines: with a Steuerberater the filing deadline for annual returns is extended into the year after the one that applies to self-filers, under § 149 AO and transitional rules that have shifted several times; a Fristverlängerung beyond that is rarely granted. Vorauszahlungen are set from the last assessment; ask for an adjustment when profit drops (§ 37 EStG, § 19 GewStG), because the Finanzamt does not lower them on its own.
• Vollmacht: grant an Empfangsvollmacht so that Bescheide go to the Kanzlei, and a Vertretungsvollmacht for ELSTER filings; the Vollmachtsdatenbank of the Steuerberaterkammern handles the ELSTER side.
• What good clients do: send documents weekly, not yearly; answer open-items lists within days; tell the Steuerberater before the notary, before the first foreign customer, before the first employee, before the first distribution; ask for a quarterly review of the BWA (betriebswirtschaftliche Auswertung) with the Steuerberater rather than reading it alone.
• The Steuerberater is not an Auftragsverarbeiter under the DSGVO but an independent Verantwortlicher; no AVV is needed, but a confidentiality clause and a data-exchange channel that is not e-mail are.

DATEV Workflows

• DATEV is the cooperative software house of the Steuerberater profession; the Kanzlei runs DATEV Kanzlei-Rechnungswesen and a payroll product, and you interact through DATEV Unternehmen online: Belege online for uploading and viewing documents, Bank online for the bank feed via EBICS, Kassenbuch online, and payment proposals. Authentication runs through DATEV SmartLogin or a mIDentity device.
• Document flow: every invoice, receipt and contract is uploaded once as an image or PDF (e-invoice XML alongside), tagged as Eingangs- or Ausgangsrechnung, and the Steuerberater posts from it; the image stays linked to the Buchungssatz, which is what makes the audit painless. Bank transactions are matched to documents by amount and reference.
• Kontenrahmen: SKR03 (organised by business process) and SKR04 (organised like the HGB balance sheet and P&L). New GmbHs usually get SKR04; either works, but pick once. Examples, to be verified against the current SKR: revenue at 19 % USt is 8400 in SKR03 and 4400 in SKR04; the bank account is 1200 in SKR03 and 1800 in SKR04; Gehälter are 4120 and 6020; Bürobedarf 4930 and 6815; Rechts- und Beratungskosten 4950 and 6825; software assets 0027 and 0135. Automatikkonten carry their USt rate built in; other accounts take a BU- or Steuerschlüssel (for example 3 for 19 % USt, 9 for 19 % Vorsteuer; check the DATEV list).
• Importing your own data: the DATEV-Format (a CSV Buchungsstapel with an "EXTF" header line that carries the Beraternummer, Mandantennummer and Wirtschaftsjahresbeginn, followed by columns such as Umsatz, Soll/Haben-Kennzeichen, Konto, Gegenkonto, BU-Schlüssel, Belegdatum, Belegfeld 1, Buchungstext) is what invoicing tools export; the Belegdatum is written as day and month only, with the year taken from the header, a classic import bug. DATEV also offers API-based data services for connected applications through its marketplace; ask the Kanzlei which channel it supports.
• Monthly rhythm: upload documents by the 5th, bank feed reconciled, open-items list answered, Voranmeldung filed by the 10th, BWA and Summen- und Saldenliste received and read.

Monthly Close Procedure

1. Export the month's outgoing invoices from the invoicing tool in DATEV-Format or through the connected data service; confirm the invoice-number sequence is gap-free and that Storni reference their originals.
2. Upload every incoming invoice to Belege online, including e-invoice XML files with their PDFs; chase missing invoices for card payments and SaaS subscriptions before the Steuerberater posts a Vorsteuer-free expense.
3. Reconcile payment providers: download the monthly statement from each (PayPal, Stripe, the direct-debit processor), upload it, and confirm that payouts on the bank feed equal gross receipts minus fees; fees carry no Vorsteuer.
4. Post payroll: the Lohnjournal and the Beitragsnachweise from the payroll run go to the Kanzlei; check that the Lohnsteueranmeldung amount matches the bank debit.
5. Answer the open-items list: unexplained bank movements, private-looking expenses, missing Bewirtungsbeleg details; anything unanswered ends up on a Verrechnungskonto and later in the Betriebsprüfung.
6. Read the BWA and the Summen- und Saldenliste: compare revenue and margin with the forecast, check the Umsatzsteuer-Zahllast against expectation, and note the Verrechnungskonto balance, which should be zero.
7. Archive the month's exports and the Übertragungsprotokolle of every filing in the GoBD archive.

Betriebsprüfung Readiness

• Legal frame: the Betriebsprüfung is ordered by Prüfungsanordnung (§ 196 AO) with reasonable notice, covers usually three years for small companies, and ends with a Schlussbesprechung (§ 201 AO), a Prüfungsbericht and amended Bescheide. Nachzahlungszinsen accrue under § 233a AO (0.15 % per month at the time of writing) after a 15-month grace period, so a finding for year one costs interest for years.
• Data access (§ 147 Abs. 6 AO): Z1 direct read access to your system, Z2 indirect access via your staff, Z3 Datenträgerüberlassung, an export in the administration's description standard that its analysis software reads. DATEV produces it; if you keep books elsewhere, make sure the tool can.
• GoBD (the BMF's principles for proper bookkeeping in electronic form): completeness, correctness, timeliness (non-cash transactions within ten days, cash daily), order, unalterability (no silent edits; changes logged), and a Verfahrensdokumentation describing how documents are created, received, processed, stored and destroyed, including the invoicing software, the upload workflow, access rights and the archive. Write it as a living README with versions.
• Retention: Buchungsbelege eight years, books, Jahresabschlüsse and Prüfungsberichte ten years (§ 147 AO; the invoice period was shortened in 2025, check the current text), in the original form, readable throughout, in Germany or with an approved location abroad.
• Typical findings in software companies: missing or defective incoming invoices (Vorsteuer disallowed), Bewirtungsbelege without participants and occasion (30 % non-deductible becomes 100 %), gifts over the per-person limit, the founder's car and phone without private-use taxation, shareholder loans without interest or documentation, salary raises agreed after the fact, Gründungskosten paid without a clause, Rückstellungen without evidence, cash transactions without a Kassenbuch, and unreconciled PayPal or Stripe balances.
• Preparation: a folder per year with Gesellschafterbeschlüsse, contracts with shareholders, Anstellungsvertrag of the Geschäftsführer, loan agreements, the Verfahrensdokumentation, and a reconciliation of every payment-provider account to the bank.

Worked Example: Tax on 100,000 EUR of Profit

Assumptions: Hebesatz 410 %, no Hinzurechnungen above the Freibetrag, rates as at the time of writing.

Step	Amount
Gewerbeertrag	100,000.00 EUR
Gewerbesteuer 100,000 × 3.5 % × 4.10	14,350.00 EUR
Körperschaftsteuer 15 %	15,000.00 EUR
Solidaritätszuschlag 5.5 % of KSt	825.00 EUR
Total at company level	30,175.00 EUR (30.175 %)
Retained after tax	69,825.00 EUR
Full distribution: KapESt 25 % + SolZ = 26.375 %	18,416.34 EUR
Net to a private shareholder	51,408.66 EUR
Combined burden on distributed profit	48.6 %

The same 100,000 EUR paid as additional Geschäftsführergehalt reduces company-level tax to zero and is taxed at the founder's personal rate; whether that beats 48.6 % depends on that rate and on whether social contributions apply. The spreadsheet has four parameters: Hebesatz, KSt rate, personal marginal rate, SV status. Update the first two each year.

Vorauszahlungen for the year at these figures: KSt plus SolZ 15,825 EUR in four instalments of 3,956.25 EUR; GewSt 14,350 EUR in four instalments of 3,587.50 EUR; both set by Bescheid from the previous assessment and adjustable on application.

Annual Calendar

• January: check contribution rates and thresholds; confirm Hebesatz; renew the U1 rate; send the Steuerberater the prior-year document backlog.
• February, May, August, November (15th): GewSt Vorauszahlungen.
• March, June, September, December (10th): KSt and SolZ Vorauszahlungen.
• Monthly (10th): Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung and Lohnsteueranmeldung; after any distribution: Kapitalertragsteueranmeldung.
• September to October: Regelabfrage of Kirchensteuer attributes at the BZSt if distributions to individuals are planned.
• Within twelve months of year end: Jahresabschluss approved by the Gesellschafterversammlung and filed with the Unternehmensregister; E-Bilanz and returns filed by the Steuerberater's deadline.

Checklist

• Tax model spreadsheet with Hebesatz, KSt, SolZ, KapESt and personal rate as parameters, refreshed yearly.
• Anstellungsvertrag of every Gesellschafter-Geschäftsführer in writing, in advance, at market terms; Statusfeststellung on file.
• Gesellschafterbeschlüsse for every distribution, salary change and shareholder loan; KapESt filed after each distribution.
• § 8c KStG checked before every share transfer or financing round.
• DATEV Unternehmen online live; documents uploaded weekly; bank feed connected; BWA read quarterly with the Steuerberater.
• Verfahrensdokumentation written and versioned; GoBD-compliant archive; Z3 export tested once.
• Vorauszahlungen reviewed against the current forecast each quarter.
• Bewirtungsbelege completed on the day; private use of company assets taxed.

Common Mistakes

• Treating the profit shown in the bank balance as distributable and discovering the tax bill plus KapESt afterwards.
• Raising the founder's salary retroactively in December and having the whole raise reclassified as vGA.
• Choosing the company's seat by Hebesatz without any substance there.
• Letting a financing round cross the 50 % threshold with a large loss carryforward and no § 8d application.
• Sending the Steuerberater a shoebox in February and paying hourly rates for the sorting.
• Importing invoicing data into DATEV with the year missing from the Belegdatum and posting everything into the wrong Wirtschaftsjahr.
• Ignoring Vorauszahlungsbescheide in a bad year and financing the Finanzamt until the assessment.
• No Verfahrensdokumentation, which turns a routine Betriebsprüfung into an estimate of your income (Schätzung, § 162 AO).

Limits

This skill explains the mechanics of German corporate taxation and the working relationship with a Steuerberater from a founder's experience; it is not tax or legal advice. Rates, thresholds, allowances, interest rates, retention periods and deadlines change with nearly every Jahressteuergesetz; confirm each figure with the Bundesministerium der Finanzen, the statutes in force (KStG, GewStG, SolZG, EStG, AO) and your Steuerberater before relying on it. Structuring (holdings, exits, cross-border income, transfer pricing, Organschaft), any Betriebsprüfung, and any dispute with the Finanzamt need a Steuerberater and, where it becomes contentious, a Fachanwalt für Steuerrecht.