UG & GmbH day to day · 4.6
Managing Director Salary: What Is Allowed?
Short answer
As a shareholder-managing director, you may pay yourself a salary, and the GmbH deducts it as an operating expense. This requires a written employment contract concluded in advance, and the salary must be appropriate (at arm's length). Otherwise, the tax office may treat it as a hidden profit distribution.
Key points
- Contract beforehand: Salary and additional benefits must be clearly agreed upon in advance and then paid accordingly. The tax office does not recognize retroactive increases for controlling shareholders.
- Appropriate: The benchmark is what an unrelated third-party managing director in a comparable company would receive. A salary that consumes the entire profit will draw scrutiny.
- Wage tax: The GmbH is the employer. It files and remits Lohnsteuer (wage tax).
- Social security: Depends primarily on how much influence you have in the company. Majority shareholders are usually exempt from statutory social security. A Statusfeststellungsverfahren (status determination procedure) provides certainty.
- Zero salary is also permitted, especially in the beginning.
Legal basis
§ 8 Abs. 3 KStG§ 19 EStG§ 41a EStG§ 7a SGB IV
Continue
- Next video: How is a profit distribution taxed?
- Related: What is a hidden profit distribution?
With Pluto
← Back to topicThe salary appears in Pluto as personnel expenses of your company. Payroll accounting itself is currently not part of Pluto.
Try it for free