The decisive line does not run between languages but along the EU border: Poland, Romania and Croatia are EU member states, Türkiye and Ukraine are not. Almost everything else follows from that.
1.1 EU citizens — Poland, Romania, Croatia
Citizens of an EU member state enjoy freedom of establishment. Running a trade business in Germany requires no residence permit and no work permit — the Gewerbeanmeldung works exactly as it does for a German craftsman.
- ●Croatia — the transitional restrictions that followed accession in 2013 are history. Germany opened its labour market fully on 1 July 2015, five years before the transitional period could have ended under EU law on 30 June 2020. Anyone still assuming a work permit is needed is turning down work for no reason.
- ●The master craftsman requirement applies regardless of nationality. If your trade is listed in Annex A of the Handwerksordnung you need a Meisterbrief, an employed technical manager, or an exemption. Foreign qualifications can be recognised under Directive 2005/36/EC.
1.2 Türkiye — outside the EU, but covered by association law
Turkish nationals need a residence title for both residence and self-employment. Whether that title permits economic activity is stated in the title itself; the governing rule is § 4a (1) AufenthG: a foreigner holding a residence title may pursue economic activity unless a statute prohibits it.
The provision most often overlooked is the standstill clause in Article 41(1) of the Additional Protocol to the EEC–Turkey Association Agreement. The Additional Protocol entered into force on 1 January 1973. Since then the conditions governing establishment of Turkish nationals may not be made stricter than those applicable on that date.
IMPORTANT: The clause does not apply automatically — it is an argument you or your lawyer must raise in the procedure. It does not replace a residence title, but it can determine the conditions under which you obtain one.
1.3 Ukraine — temporary protection under § 24 AufenthG
Refugees from Ukraine receive a residence permit under § 24 (1) AufenthG (temporary protection based on Directive 2001/55/EC).
- ●Extension — by Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1460 of 15 July 2025 the Council of the European Union extended temporary protection until 4 March 2027. Residence permits under § 24 (1) AufenthG that were valid on 1 February 2026 continue to apply until that date without individual renewal.
- ●Self-employment — the former § 24 (6) AufenthG has been repealed. The applicable rule today is the general provision of § 4a (1) AufenthG: the residence title permits economic activity unless a statutory prohibition applies. Economic activity includes self-employment, and therefore a registered trade.
WARNING: What matters is the entry in your own residence title. If it contains a restriction, have the immigration office amend it before you register the business.
How BauFin helps
During setup BauFin asks for legal form, tax number and chamber of crafts — and then puts them on every invoice, quotation and return automatically.
Tax liability is not determined by your passport but by residence. Getting this wrong means paying in two countries, or arguing with two tax offices years later.
2.1 Residence decides, not nationality
Under § 1 EStG, anyone with a residence (Wohnsitz) or habitual abode (gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt) in Germany is subject to unlimited income tax liability. Unlimited means on worldwide income, not only on German income.
- ●Wohnsitz (§ 8 AO) — a dwelling you have at your disposal and actually use. A room in workers accommodation can be enough.
- ●Gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt (§ 9 AO) — as a rule from more than six months of continuous presence.
The basic tax-free allowance is 12,348 euros from assessment period 2026 (§ 32a EStG). Below that taxable income no income tax arises — the obligation to file a return is unaffected.
2.2 The five double taxation treaties at a glance
Each of the five countries has its own treaty with Germany. They are similar but not identical — even the article numbers differ.
- ●Poland — treaty of 14 May 2003 (Berlin), in force since 19 December 2004, published in Dz.U. 2005 No. 12 item 90.
- ●Romania — treaty of 4 July 2001 (Berlin), in force since 17 December 2003, applicable from 1 January 2004.
- ●Croatia — treaty of 6 February 2006 (Berlin), applicable from 1 January 2007; it replaced the 1987 Yugoslav treaty that had continued to apply.
- ●Türkiye — treaty of 19 September 2011, in force since 1 August 2012, applicable from assessment period 2011.
- ●Ukraine — treaty of 3 July 1995. A new treaty was signed on 19 May 2026 but is not yet in force: the instruments of ratification still have to be exchanged. Until then the 1995 treaty continues to apply.
The common core for craftsmen: business profits are taxed where the permanent establishment is located. If you run your trade in Germany and work here, the profit is taxed in Germany.
2.3 Certificate of residence — the proof your home country asks for
When the tax authority of your country of origin wants to know whether you are still resident there, only an official German document settles it: the Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung.
- ●It is issued by the German tax office, free of charge.
- ●You complete the official form and submit it in duplicate; one copy is returned to you stamped.
- ●For tax purposes it proves that you live permanently in Germany — the basis on which your home country applies the double taxation treaty.
The reverse direction exists as well: anyone who remains resident in the country of origin and has to prove it to the German tax office submits a certificate of residence issued by the authority there.
2.4 Deregistering at home is what people forget most often
Moving to Germany does not end tax liability in your country of origin automatically. Until the authority there formally treats you as non-resident, it will keep asking for returns covering your worldwide income — including what you have long since taxed in Germany.
Romania is the strictest on procedure: anyone leaving Romania must register the „Chestionar pentru stabilirea rezidenţei fiscale a persoanei fizice la plecarea din România" with the competent tax authority 30 days BEFORE departure. The authority then decides within 15 days whether unlimited Romanian tax liability continues. The German certificate of residence serves as proof of the new residence.
WARNING: Without that filing the craftsman remains fully liable to Romanian tax, with a duty to declare all income, domestic and foreign.
How BauFin helps
BauFin keeps the EÜR under German rules and exports the entries to DATEV. What your tax adviser needs is ready at year end — even if your receipts arrive in five languages.
This is where EU and non-EU differ most sharply. The A1 certificate exists only within the EU. For Türkiye a bilateral agreement provides a different form — for Ukraine there is currently none at all.
3.1 EU — A1 under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004
Within the EU one principle applies: contributions in one state only. Which one is evidenced by the A1 certificate.
- ●Poland — ZUS; applications can be filed electronically via PUE ZUS.
- ●Romania — Casa Naţională de Pensii Publice; applications now run through an online portal.
- ●Croatia — Hrvatski zavod za mirovinsko osiguranje (HZMO); self-employed applicants have their own form.
Posting is limited to 24 months. After that the law of the posting state ceases to apply and German rules take over.
WARNING: A1 is not a document for the filing cabinet. It must be available during a customs inspection on site; without it, back contributions may be assessed and the main contractor sends the crew home.
3.2 Türkiye — T/A 1 instead of A1
Germany and Türkiye are bound by the Agreement on Social Security of 30 April 1964, in force since 1 November 1965 and amended in 1984. It is not EU law, so there is no A1.
- ●The corresponding certificate is called T/A 1 and is applied for at the statutory health insurance fund or at GKV-Spitzenverband, DVKA.
- ●The agreement contains no separate posting rule for self-employed persons. Whether a posting exists is therefore assessed solely under § 4 (2) SGB IV.
- ●Its material scope is narrower than EU law — what that means for child benefit is explained in the next section.
3.3 Ukraine — no applicable agreement
The German pension insurance authority lists the states with which bilateral social security agreements are applied. Ukraine is not among them (as at 26 July 2026). An agreement signed in 2018 is not yet being applied.
Consequences in practice:
- ●No A1 and no comparable certificate. If you work in Germany, you are insured in Germany.
- ●Ukrainian insurance periods are not aggregated with German periods for the German pension.
- ●Health insurance is compulsory — for the self-employed either private or voluntary statutory cover.
- ●Craftsmen in Annex A are additionally subject to compulsory pension insurance during the first 18 years of self-employment (§ 2 No. 8 SGB VI).
How BauFin helps
BauFin keeps timesheets, payroll data and subcontractor agreements in one place — including storage for A1, T/A 1 and exemption certificates, so nobody has to look for them during an inspection.
Child benefit is the most frequently asked about payment, and the one where advice from acquaintances is most often wrong. The decisive sentence is not about the claimant but about the child.
4.1 Who is entitled: 259 euros per child per month
Child benefit amounts to 259 euros per month for each child (§ 66 EStG).
- ●Entitled is anyone with a residence or habitual abode in Germany (§ 62 (1) EStG); the personal identification number is required.
- ●EU citizens have no entitlement during the first three months after establishing residence unless they prove domestic income (§ 62 (1a) EStG) — which is the normal situation for a self-employed craftsman.
- ●Foreign nationals without freedom of movement — including Turkish and Ukrainian citizens — receive child benefit only with a residence title from the catalogue in § 62 (2) EStG, which includes a residence permit entitling the holder to economic activity for at least six months.
4.2 Where the children live determines the claim
Children who have neither a residence nor a habitual abode in Germany, another EU state or an EEA state are not taken into account (§ 63 (1) sentence 6 EStG). This affects the five groups in completely different ways:
- ●Poland, Romania, Croatia — EU. The children may live in the home country and the entitlement remains. Where a comparable family benefit is paid there, Germany pays only the difference (Differenzkindergeld).
- ●Türkiye — the children live outside the EU. An entitlement can only arise from the German-Turkish Agreement on Social Security, whose material scope on the German side expressly covers „child benefit for employees" (Article 2(1)(e)). For a self-employed craftsman with children in Türkiye that route therefore leads nowhere. If the children live with him in Germany, the ordinary rules apply.
- ●Ukraine — no applicable social security agreement and therefore no special route. There is no child benefit entitlement for children who stayed in Ukraine; for children who came to Germany, §§ 62, 63 EStG apply normally.
IMPORTANT: This is one of the most expensive misconceptions in the trade. Anyone who plans on a false assumption, or draws child benefit without meeting the conditions, later faces recovery claims from the Familienkasse.
How BauFin helps
Child benefit is administered by the Familienkasse, not by BauFin. What BauFin delivers is clean proof of income: profit calculation, invoices and incoming payments in the form the authorities expect.
The documents that cause problems on site are the same for all five groups. They cost little time if obtained in advance, and a great deal of money if not.
5.1 Exemption certificate under § 48b EStG
Anyone providing a construction service in Germany to a business must expect the client to withhold 15 percent of the consideration and pay it to the tax office (§ 48 (1) EStG). This construction withholding tax applies to every building trade, irrespective of origin.
The deduction does not apply if
- ●you present an exemption certificate under § 48b (1) sentence 1 EStG valid at the time of payment, or
- ●the consideration is not expected to exceed 5,000 euros in the current calendar year; the threshold is 15,000 euros where the recipient exclusively provides tax-exempt letting services under § 4 No. 12 sentence 1 UStG.
All construction services for the same client are added together for that threshold. Without the certificate, 15 percent is missing from your cash flow until the tax office credits it.
5.2 Customs notification for postings (§ 18 AEntG)
An employer established abroad who posts employees to Germany must submit a written notification in German to the competent customs authority before each service begins (§ 18 (1) AEntG).
The notification must state, among other things: name, date of birth, nationality and contact details of the posted employees, the start and expected duration, the place of employment — for construction work the site itself —, where the required documents are kept, a person authorised to accept service with a German address, the sector, the activity, and the name and address of the client. Changes must be reported without delay.
Notification is made through the customs Meldeportal-Mindestlohn. The duty concerns the posting of employees by a foreign employer — not a solo self-employed person without staff.
5.3 Carrying identification on site (§ 2a SchwarzArbG)
In the construction sector everyone providing services or works must carry their identity card, passport or substitute document and present it to the customs authorities on request (§ 2a (1) No. 1 SchwarzArbG).
The employer must also instruct every employee in writing and verifiably about this duty before work starts, keep that instruction and present it during inspections (§ 2a (2) SchwarzArbG).
The site folder should additionally contain: A1 or T/A 1, the exemption certificate, proof of accident insurance registration and, for postings, the customs notification.
How BauFin helps
Receipts, certificates and contracts sit in BauFin with the job they belong to. Being inspected means opening the job, not searching five ring binders.
These points come up again and again in tax audits and advisory meetings. None of them is exotic; every one of them costs money.
6.1 Eight misconceptions that regularly become expensive
- ●„I am still registered at home" — tax liability there does not end automatically. In Romania deregistration even has to be filed 30 days before departure.
- ●„As a Turkish national I need an A1 too" — no. Türkiye is covered by the 1964 agreement with form T/A 1; for Ukraine there is currently no equivalent certificate at all.
- ●„Child benefit is paid for every child" — only if the child lives in Germany, the EU or the EEA (§ 63 (1) sentence 6 EStG). For children in Türkiye the agreement applies only to employees; for children in Ukraine there is no special route.
- ●„I will get the exemption certificate once the first big contract arrives" — then 15 percent is missing from the very first payment.
- ●„Below the tax-free allowance I do not have to file anything" — the allowance of 12,348 euros (2026) concerns the tax, not the duty to file.
- ●„My colleague has done it this way for years" — your colleague may hold a different residence title, a different legal form and a different treaty.
- ●„An invoice without a tax number is fine" — if a mandatory item under § 14 UStG is missing, the client loses the input tax deduction. He will call someone else next time.
- ●„Paperwork is bureaucracy" — on site it is a condition of entry. Without ID, A1 and exemption certificate the job ends at the first customs inspection.
How BauFin helps
BauFin cannot deal with the authorities for you. It makes sure invoices, records and figures are complete and audit-proof — in the language you work in.
Legal notice
This page reflects the legal position as of 26 July 2026 and does not replace individual tax or legal advice. Residence, tax and social security law change; check your specific case with your tax adviser (Steuerberater) or the competent authority.
