Summary
A civil law partnership 💬Gesellschaft des bürgerlichen Rechts or GbR in Germany must complete a trade registration 💬Gewerbeanmeldung if it carries out commercial activity. Each partner registers individually if required, then the GbR is registered with the local trade office. The process requires partner details, business address, a clear activity description, and supporting documents such as ID and residence permit. After registration, the tax office and chambers are notified automatically, and the registration fee is usually between 15 and 30 euros.
Contents
Introduction
A GbR is a civil law partnership. When it comes to registration, the law generally differentiates between two types of GbRs: commercial and non-commercial GbRs.
Trade registration 💬Gewerbeanmeldung is only necessary if your GbR will be operating commercially. If that is the case, each individual commercial activity to be carried out by the GbR must be reported in accordance with § 14 of the German Trade Regulation Code.
Non-commercial GbRs consisting of partnerships between two or more liberal professionals 💬Freiberufler, such as photographers, artists and journalists, for example, are not required to register their trade. Additional exceptions include traders in primary production sectors (agriculture, livestock farming, fishing, fish farming).
If you and your fellow partners are planning on carrying on a trade, you’ll have to make your way to your local trade office 💬Gewerbeamt.
Checklist: Before you register a GbR
- Form your team: A GbR needs at least two partners.
- Define your business purpose: Agree on what the partnership will do.
- Clarify management: Decide who manages the business and record it in your contract if it differs from equal management.
- Create a business plan: Outline your idea, goals and finances.
- Discuss liability: Partners are personally liable — agree how risks and responsibilities are shared.
- Choose a legally compliant name: Make sure it meets German naming rules.
- Draft a GbR contract: Not mandatory but strongly recommended to regulate profits, duties and internal rules.
- Assess your capital needs: No minimum capital required, but plan for start-up costs.
- Open a business account: Select an account model suitable for multiple users.
Registration
Step One: Separately registering partners
A GbR must consist of at least two natural or legal persons and each partner must complete their own registration. Here, ‘partners’ refers to two or more sole proprietors or liberal professionals who come together to form a GbR. Read more about how to register a sole proprietorship. Liberal professionals don’t need a trade registration beforehand, they just need to register with tax office in advance.
Step Two: Registering the GbR
If you plan on operating commercially, you must register a trade for the new partnership. You can do this at the trade office responsible for the location of your place of business.
Trade office
The necessary paperwork and individual forms vary from office to office. In general, every trade registration must include information about the GbR partners, such as personal and contact information as well as the business address and telephone number. Read our guide on how to fill in the form correctly.
One essential component of the registration is the wording of your business activity. You should define the activity to be registered carefully to avoid modification requests from the trade office.
Attachments
Once you’ve filled out the forms from the trade office, you may need additional paperword
- Residence permit for foreign nationals
- Police clearance certificate 💬Führungszeugnis
- Business license 💬Gewerbeerlaubnis
- Clearance certificate from your tax office 💬Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung
Business licenses
The trade office will review your professional suitability and qualifications if your trade requires you to have an an additional license. In many cases, the relevant application forms can be downloaded as PDFs. Be sure to find out sooner rather than later if any additional documents are required for completing your GbR’s trade registration.
📌 Expect to wait several weeks for official documents to be issued such as police clearance certificates.
Good to know
- A trade license is valid indefinitely—no renewal required.
- Registering a GbR usually costs €15 to €60, depending on the municipality.
- Once the trade office stamps your application, your GbR can start operating.
- If your business address or other key details change, you must inform the trade office.
Once your GbR is successfully registered, other relevant agencies will be informed. We’ve put together an overview of the next steps in establishing your GbR:
Chamber membership
Whether your business activity falls under the responsibility of the Chamber of industry and commerce (IHK) or Chamber of crafts (HWK), membership is mandatory. After registering your trade, the chamber will get in touch with you automatically.
Liberal professions are exempt from this requirement. But be careful—there are exceptions for regulated liberal professions such as tax consultants, architects and lawyers. They are required to become members in their respective professional chamber.
Gesellschaftsregister
The Gesellschaftsregister is a new public register for civil law partnerships in Germany. Since 2024, GbRs can register voluntarily and become an eGbR, i.e. registered GbR. Registration makes the partnership legally visible to third parties, simplifies signing contracts, and is required for activities such as purchasing property. For many founders, the eGbR offers a more transparent and reliable structure, especially when several partners are involved or when the business plans to enter into significant transactions.
⚠️ The Gesellschaftsregister should not be confused with the Partnerschaftsregister, which is a separate register for partnerships formed by regulated liberal professions such as lawyers, architects or doctors. Although both terms translate to “partnership register”, they refer to different legal structures and are not interchangeable.
Tax registration
If you’re establishing a commercial GbR, your tax office will contact you for tax registration purposes after you register a trade. Fill in the form to receive your tax number and VAT ID, if required. You’ll be able to issue invoices once you receive your tax ID. However, this may take several weeks.
Freiberufler just need to inform the tax office about the new partnership.
📌GbRs usually pay VAT and trade tax.
Other registrations
- If you decide to hire employees for your GbR, you’ll need to apply for a company number.
- Most businesses have to register for statutory accident insurance. Find out which employer liability insurance association is responsible for your sector via their umbrella organisation Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung.
- Consider joining a society, association or guild for your specific sector. They provide contact networks, legal support, mediation, know-how and political representation for its members.
Social security insurance for GbR partners
Partners in a GbR are insured as self-employed individuals, not as employees of the partnership. Whether you are obliged to take out specific social security insurance depends on your profession, business activity and individual situation:
- Most other self-employed persons choose between statutory or private health insurance and may contribute voluntarily to pension insurance.
- Some self-employed people have mandatory pension insurance under German law, for example teachers, midwives, craftspeople in regulated trades, and regulated liberal professions with their own professional pension schemes.
- Artists and publicists may fall under the Artists’ Social Security Fund 💬Künstlersozialkasse, which provides statutory health, nursing-care and pension insurance.
When you establish a GbR, the trade office may forward your basic information to other authorities, but this is not guaranteed. You should ensure that the relevant bodies—particularly your health and pension insurance provider—have the information they need.
Post-registration
Accounting
Your GbR is legally required to keep accounts. This can be done by means of a so-called EÜR, a simplified profit calculation.
Compensation and withdrawing wages
The GbR contract should define how partners will be compensated. Profit and losses are usually distributed equally amongst all partners unless the contract states otherwise. Private wage withdrawals don’t reduce taxable profits, however. Instead, they are recorded in a so-called private account for bookkeeping purposes.
Converting a GbR into an oHG
Do you have big plans for your GbR? If so, you’ll probably need to change your legal form sooner or later. The tax office will decide on a case-by-case basis. Indicators for a change of legal form are:
- Annual revenue over €250,000
- More than 5 employees
- Business assets over €120,000
That form might have to be a general partnership 💬offene Handelsgesellschaft or OHG.
Here are a few quick facts about the oHG as a legal company form:
- Commercial partnership pursuing a commercial purpose
- Entry in the commercial register
- No minimum capital required
- Unlimited liability
- Mandatory double-entry bookkeeping and annual financial statement
Converting a GbR into an oHG turns your small trade business into a commercial enterprise. Be sure to seek out a tax consultant as soon as your yearly revenue exceeds €250,000.
Conclusion
Organising the trade registration early helps avoid delays when setting up a civil law partnership. Prepare all documents in advance, define your business activity clearly, and agree on partner responsibilities. After registration, complete tax setup, bookkeeping, and chamber obligations to ensure your GbR operates legally and efficiently in Germany.
