Freelancing Archives - Andrew Cross

OK, so you’ve done that brilliant piece of work for your customer and now it’s time to get paid as a freelancer in Germany. How confident are you that you will find the agreed amount of money in your bank account at the agreed time?

At the end of the day, every piece of work you do – regardless of how artistic or creative it might be – is a business transaction. You provide a service, the customer pays you. That is how it should be.

But, sometimes, that doesn’t work. The money has NOT arrived and you have to ponder what happens next. In this article, I want to give you some guidance and advice on the way things work in Germany. [Continue Reading] about How to get paid as a freelancer in Germany

So you’re thinking about freelancing in Germany. In this article I want to introduce you to some of the important things you need to know.

The first thing we need to do is to clear up confusion about some of the terms flying around concerning freelancing. The confusion starts with the fact that there is no direct and perfect translation into German for the word “freelancer”. “Freelancer” does not equal “freiberuflich” (even if they do both begin with the word “free”). We have to look at certain characteristics of the work that you are doing to decide what sort of freelancer you actually are.

Anybody who works for himself and who does not have an employment contract with a company or somebody else is self-employed (“selbstständig”). This is just a broad description of your current working status. It has no further implications in terms of the German legal, tax or administrative systems. [Continue Reading] about Freelancing in Germany: facts and some good advice