The Tax Registration Questionnaire, Explained Simply
After formation, the tax registration of the company begins. For this, the tax registration questionnaire must be submitted electronically to the tax office via ELSTER.
Many of the details seem complicated at first, but with good preparation they can be placed clearly. Queries from the tax office are nothing unusual.
Table of contents
At a glance
- The tax registration questionnaire registers your company with the tax office.
- It is submitted without being requested, electronically via ELSTER.
- In principle, a deadline of one month after the opening of the business or the start of the activity applies.
- Details on turnover and profit affect the first advance tax payments and should be estimated realistically.
- Decisions on VAT and the small business scheme can have far-reaching consequences.
- Queries from the tax office are common and usually part of the normal review.
- A tax adviser should be involved early on for tax decisions.
What the tax registration questionnaire is
With the tax registration questionnaire, you inform the tax office that you have formed a company or taken up a self-employed activity. The tax office uses your details to classify you for tax purposes: which types of tax apply to you, how high the advance payments are likely to be, and whether you use the small business scheme.
At the end of the review, you receive your tax number. Anyone who needs to apply for a tax number therefore cannot avoid the tax registration questionnaire. For complete invoices, companies generally need a tax number or VAT identification number. If this is not yet available, it should be clarified for tax purposes how invoices are handled correctly in the interim period or supplemented later. The questionnaire is therefore not a bureaucratic end in itself, but the entry into ongoing business operations.
Who has to submit the questionnaire and which deadline applies
In principle, everyone who starts a business is obliged to submit it: sole proprietors and freelancers as well as partnerships and corporations such as the GmbH or UG (haftungsbeschränkt).
The legal basis is Section 138 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). Under this provision, the opening of a business or the start of a freelance activity must generally be notified to the tax office electronically within one month. Important: since January 2021, you must submit the questionnaire without being requested. The tax office will not send you a reminder or a form. Anyone who waits for the authority to get in touch waits in vain and, in individual cases, risks a coercive fine or an estimate of the tax bases.
Submission on paper is now only possible in special cases of hardship on application. The standard route is via the tax administration’s ELSTER portal or via your tax adviser.
How submission via ELSTER works
You need an ELSTER user account for the submission. Registration takes a few days because some of the access data is sent by post. Allow for this lead time, ideally before formation.
In the portal, you select the questionnaire that matches your legal form:
- Questionnaire for sole proprietorships (also for freelancers)
- Questionnaire for partnerships, such as the GbR
- Questionnaire for corporations, such as the GmbH and UG
For a GmbH or UG, a separate ELSTER account for the company is recommended, since the company itself is the taxable entity and its tax returns will later also run through it.
Which details the tax office expects from you
The questionnaire seems long at first glance, but follows a clear logic. These areas are particularly relevant:
Details of the person or company
For sole proprietorships, it is about your personal data and your activity. For corporations, you instead enter the company’s data, including the date of notarisation, the articles of association and the competent register court. You can submit the commercial register number later if registration is still in progress.
Profit estimate and advance payments
You estimate the expected turnover and profit for the year of formation and the following year. On this basis, the tax office sets the advance payments, for example for income tax or corporation tax and trade tax. Estimate realistically: figures that are too optimistic can lead to high advance payments that strain your liquidity in the start-up phase. Figures that are far too low can mean noticeable back payments later.
VAT and the small business scheme
Here you decide whether you want to use the small business scheme under Section 19 UStG. New thresholds have applied since 2025: turnover must not exceed 25,000 euros in the previous year and 100,000 euros in the current year. For new formations, there is no previous-year turnover yet. Whether the small business scheme can be used in the year of formation should therefore be checked carefully on the basis of the expected turnover and the current rules. Since 2025, the threshold of 100,000 euros in the current year is also particularly important: if it is exceeded, the small business scheme can no longer be continued as before from that point on. The decision has consequences for your invoices, input tax deduction and ongoing obligations. If in doubt, it should therefore be agreed with your tax adviser before submitting the questionnaire.
Payroll tax and bank details
If you want to employ staff, you provide details on payroll tax. You also enter the company’s bank details, ideally a separate business account.
Special considerations for UG and GmbH
For corporations, the tax office checks more closely, because a separate legal entity with its own tax number comes into existence. Additional documents are usually expected, above all the notarised articles of association, the opening balance sheet and, after registration, the commercial register extract. A managing director’s service contract may also be requested, especially if shareholders are also managing directors. The opening balance sheet and detailed tax questions belong in the hands of your tax adviser.
With a UG or GmbH, tax registration should also be considered early on. Even while entry in the commercial register is still in progress, organisational and tax follow-up questions already arise, for example on paying in the share capital, on initial expenses or on later invoicing.
If you are currently forming a UG or GmbH, the sequence is what matters most: notarisation, paying in the share capital, the register application and tax registration interlock in time. Notary Franke supports the notarial formation and ensures that the articles of association, company purpose and formation documents are properly aligned with each other.
Why the tax office asks questions
Many founders are alarmed when a letter from the tax office arrives after submission. Yet queries are a normal part of the procedure and not a sign of distrust. The tax office may only issue a tax number once the details are complete and plausible. Typical triggers for queries are:
- Missing documents: The articles of association, the opening balance sheet or proof of the business address, such as a lease, are often missing.
- Unclear business address: The tax office checks whether business activity actually takes place at the stated address. Especially with virtual offices or coworking addresses, queries therefore arise, which can usually be answered well with a lease or a service agreement.
- Implausible estimates: If the turnover and profit estimates do not match or deviate strongly from typical industry values, the tax office asks.
- Unclear company purpose: If the description of the activity is too vague, the tax office cannot make the tax classification, for example the distinction between commercial and freelance activity.
- Inconsistent details: Differences between the questionnaire, trade registration and commercial register are noticed and must be clarified.
The only important thing is: respond promptly and completely. The longer queries remain open, the longer the issue of the tax number can be delayed. This can be particularly awkward in the start-up phase when the first invoices, customers or running costs are already pending.
In our office, we often see that the company purpose in the articles of association and the description of the activity in the questionnaire differ from each other. This almost always leads to queries. Word both consistently from the start. Read more in our article on defining the company purpose.
Typical mistakes in tax registration
- The deadline is missed because founders wait for a request from the tax office.
- The ELSTER account is set up too late and the access data does not arrive in time.
- The profit estimate is set too high and the advance payments burden the start-up phase.
- The decision on the small business scheme is made without tax advice and without considering planned investments.
- Queries from the tax office remain unanswered for weeks and the tax number is delayed.
You do not have to clarify tax questions alone
The tax registration questionnaire is new territory for almost all founders. Nobody expects you to decide every tax detail yourself. What matters is that you keep an eye on the deadline, prepare important details in time and realistically, and get support from a tax adviser on the key decisions, for example on VAT. Much of this can be clarified in a short conversation. Which other steps are due after notarisation is shown in our article on the first weeks after formation.
More from the series: the notary appointment
Arrange a notary appointment
We are happy to support you in preparing and carrying out your formation with legal certainty. Arrange a notary appointment early to clarify open questions and plan the process in a structured way.
Frequently asked questions about the tax registration questionnaire
This depends on the tax office and the completeness of your details. It often takes a few weeks, in individual cases longer. Complete documents and quick answers to queries can noticeably shorten the waiting time.
The tax office can threaten and impose a coercive fine. It can also estimate turnover and profits, which is often less favourable than the actual figures. In that case, submit the questionnaire as quickly as possible.
There is no obligation. Many founders complete the questionnaire themselves. For a GmbH or UG, for questions on VAT, for larger investments or in case of uncertainty, tax advice is sensible, however, because the details shape your advance payments and obligations for a long time.
The tax number is issued by your tax office for ongoing taxation. The VAT identification number comes from the Federal Central Tax Office and is mainly needed for business with companies in other EU countries. You can apply for the VAT ID directly in the questionnaire.
Yes, and as promptly as possible. Queries are normal and usually routine. Without your answer, however, the tax office cannot complete processing, and the issue of the tax number may be delayed.
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“Very friendly, very competent! Mr Franke helped enormously with a short-notice matter. Highly recommended.”
A clear basis for the steps after formation
If you want to form a UG or GmbH, careful notarial preparation ensures that the articles of association, company purpose and register application fit together coherently. This does not replace tax advice, but it creates a clear basis for the next steps after formation, including tax registration. At Notary Franke, you can prepare your formation in a structured way and clarify open questions about the notarial process directly.
