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Taxes and bookkeeping for coaches, trainers and online course providers
Coaching programmes, online courses, memberships and workshops: selling knowledge often means many customers, several payment channels and participants in different countries.
Typical tax topics for coaching businesses
1. VAT on coaching and courses
Coaching and most online courses are subject to VAT. Educational exemptions apply only under narrow conditions, for example certified vocational training. Typical personal development and business coaching generally attract the standard 19% rate.
2. Participants in other EU countries
For automated online courses sold to consumers in other EU countries, destination-country VAT applies once relevant EU-wide annual turnover exceeds €10,000. You report these sales together through OSS. Live coaching may receive different treatment from prerecorded courses.
3. Platforms such as Digistore24, Elopage and Copecart
Many course platforms sell in their own name as resellers. The platform is then your customer, not the participant, and you invoice the platform. Under other models, you are the seller. This distinction determines how you record VAT and revenue.
4. Instalments and advance payments
For programmes lasting several months or paid in instalments, timing matters: when have you provided the service, and when is VAT due? In your Jahresabschluss (annual financial statements), you defer advance payments for services in the following year.
5. Advertising and funnel tools
Ads on Meta, Google and YouTube, and tools such as ClickFunnels and Kajabi, usually come from overseas suppliers. Their invoices are subject to reverse charge.
Bookkeeping, duties and deadlines
Bookkeeping: A UG (entrepreneurial company) or GmbH (limited liability company) is a commercial entity by legal form. You must keep double-entry books under the German Commercial Code (HGB) and prepare a Jahresabschluss (annual financial statements) each year, comprising a balance sheet, profit and loss account and notes. Micro-entities may omit the notes.
Annual financial statements: For small companies, you have up to six months after the financial year ends to prepare the statements. You must disclose them in the Unternehmensregister (company register) within twelve months of year-end. You submit them electronically to the Finanzamt (tax office) as an E-Bilanz (electronic tax balance sheet).
Annual tax returns (you file by 31 July of the following year if filing without a tax advisor):
- Corporation tax return: 15% of profit plus a solidarity surcharge of 5.5% on that tax
- Gewerbesteuer (trade tax) return: based on your municipality’s assessment multiplier
- Annual VAT return
- Investment income withholding tax notification if your company distributes profits
Ongoing: You file advance VAT returns monthly or quarterly, depending on the previous year’s VAT, by the 10th of the following month (one month later with a permanent filing extension). Corporation tax prepayments fall due on 10 March, June, September and December; trade tax prepayments on 15 February, May, August and November.
Record retention: Keep supporting documents such as invoices and bank statements for eight years, and books and annual financial statements for ten years.
You can manage your bookkeeping, prepare annual financial statements and create tax returns in Pluto. Employee payroll, non-standard international matters, tax groups, transformations and tax audits are outside its scope.
Frequently asked questions
Is coaching exempt from VAT?+
Usually not. Educational exemptions apply only under narrow conditions. Typical business or life coaching attracts 19% VAT.
Who is my customer when I sell through Digistore24?+
Digistore24 acts as a reseller. Your customer is the platform you invoice, not each participant.
Do I need OSS for my online courses?+
Once annual sales of automated courses to consumers in other EU countries exceed €10,000.
Do I need a tax advisor?+
You remain responsible for your company’s bookkeeping, Jahresabschluss (annual financial statements) and tax returns. A tax advisor can help with complex matters such as restructuring or tax audits.
Pluto Tax is a software tool that supports you in preparing your own tax returns. It does not provide tax advice within the meaning of the German Tax Advisory Act.
Updated: October 2026