General – founding & basics · 1.7

Trade Registration: Who Must Register, and What Happens Next?

Short answer

As soon as your UG or GmbH starts commercial activity, the managing director registers a trade with the local Gewerbeamt (trade licensing office). This can usually be done online. The trade office forwards the registration to other authorities, but you still handle registration with the Finanzamt (tax office) yourself.

Key points

You must register simultaneously with the start of business activities, not just when the first invoice is issued.
The Gewerbeamt informs, among others, the Finanzamt, the IHK (Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and the Berufsgenossenschaft (statutory accident insurance).
If you register within one week, the reporting requirement to the Berufsgenossenschaft is also considered fulfilled.
Relocations, new activities, or ceasing operations must also be reported.
Certain activities require an additional permit, such as real estate brokers or financial intermediaries. For most digital business models, this is not the case.

Trade registration is not a tax registration. You submit the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (tax registration questionnaire) yourself. A pure holding company that merely holds shareholdings is generally not a commercial business under the Gewerbeordnung (Trade Regulation Code), but as a UG or GmbH it remains subject to Gewerbesteuer (trade tax) nonetheless.

Figures & thresholds (as of November 2026)

Fee: set individually by each municipality

Legal basis

§ 14 GewO§ 34c GewO§ 192 SGB VII§ 2 GewStG

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