How I would start my next startup in Germany without a GmbH (2020)

Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by codethief on Saturday June 04, 2022 @12:05PM (#31621987)

> I never filed yearly accounts for the UG so afr, the first two years you don't have to.

Could you provide a source for this claim?

In a best-case scenario, where you have founded your company on Jan 1 2021, you so far would have still had to

- hand in your initial balance sheet at the time of founding

- hand in your Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung every month.

Moreover, you will definitely have to

- hand in your Umsatzsteuererklärung, Körperschaftsteuererklärung, Gewerbesteuererklärung (all for 2021) by 31.07.2022

- send your "electronic tax balance sheet" (Elektronische Steuerbilanz / eBilanz) for 2021 to the tax authorities by 31.07.22

- set up your balance sheet for 2021 by 31.06.22 and send it to Bundesanzeiger by 31.12.22

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Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by hef19898 on Saturday June 04, 2022 @12:10PM (#31622059)

Well, no initial balance sheet required. Taxes are filed, of course. VAT had to be decleared, in theory, every month. You get reminders, so it can also be done for multiple months. Now, due to lack of revenue, I have to file a zero VAT declaration quarterly. And your deadlines are longer than if you eork with a registered tax advisor. That's why I said so far, I'll have to do all that this year, the 2021 balance sheet is due in 2023, no need to publish the latest in the Bundesanzeiger anyway. After all, that's par of the course of doing proper business, and cost of doing business.

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Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by codethief on Saturday June 04, 2022 @12:35PM (#31622397)

> Well, no initial balance sheet required

The law very clearly disagrees with you:

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/hgb/__242.html

> And your deadlines are longer than if you eork with a registered tax advisor.

True. If you're paying a tax advisor, you don't really care about the deadlines and all the paperwork, anyway, though. You just pay people to do all that for you.

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Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by hef19898 on Saturday June 04, 2022 @12:42PM (#31622487)

I had two companies, GmbH (no merged and disolved) and a dormant UG. Never filed an initial balance sheet for either.

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Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by codethief on Saturday June 04, 2022 @03:00PM (#31623952)

That's interesting. Tax authorities (in NRW) very explicitly asked me for one a few months after I had incorporated.

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Re:How I would start my next startup in Germany without a Gm... by hef19898 on Saturday June 04, 2022 @05:37PM (#31625335)

I'm in Bavaria, and to the best of my recolection I never filed one. But then it was a cash-only incorporation, and honestly I don't remember all the files and formulars I filled and signed. Maybe there are exceptions to this under certain circumstances...

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