Self employment and moving out of Jobcenter.

Question

Hallo,

Thank you to Meike for responding to my last thread on which home office jobs to select from as a stay at home mother. l have done research and l want to start Online Marketing. Truth to be told social benefits limits one to grow and the hurdles are limited. l want freedom, growth and independency. 

In order for me to start,  l have to first apply for Business Registration Licence (Gewerbescheine)
● Tax ID number (steuernummer)
● Vat ID number (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr.)

According to my research the process of all 3 might take weeks to 3 months because you will not apply all at one office hence you have to wait. 

l am currently receiving assistance from Jobcenter. l hold a resident permit which also permit me to work independently. My worry is:

1. Do l tell them my plans before applying for this paperwork and can l seek advice from them?

2. And if l do, will Jobcenter stop assisting me immediately after registration? This registration is not active work till l have started making sales online. (It will be processing time) 

3. After the paperwork is done l will need 1-3months to setup and order products. This takes time before l start making sales and profits.

Looking forward to your response. 

Answer 1

Hi @Simi

Yes, I recommend you speak to the Jobcenter about your plans. They will be able to advise you on how best to set up your business and can pay the costs if there are training courses (Weiterbildung) that you need for your business. Importantly, they can also provide extra financial support called ‘Einstiegsgeld’ for up to 24 months. This is why it is important to speak with them before you set up a business.

There are other supports available to people starting a business. This site is a good source of information on this:

https://***.existenzgruendungsportal.de/Navigation/EN/Home/home.html

The registration of your business does not affect your right to receive benefits. What matters is if a person is able to work. If they are, they get help from the Jobcenter. It does not matter whether they wish to do employed or self-employed work.

What will most likely happen is that you will be moved to a different section of the Jobcenter that is responsible for people who are self-employed. Once you start working in that field, there are additional forms you will have to fill out for the Jobcenter. As the income of someone in self-employment is harder to predict than someone on a fixed salary every month, the Jobcenter will grant you benefits on a preliminary basis. After this period, they will then **** at what income you actually had in that period and as a result you may receive an extra payment (if you did not earn as much as they had predicted) or will have to pay some money back (if you earned more than planned).

This Jobcenter provides a good overview of the situation for self-employed people receiving Bürgergeld:

https://***-jobcenter--ge-de.translate.goog/Jobcenter/MSE-Nord/DE/Geldleistungen/Selbststaendigkeit/Selbststaendigkeit-Knoten.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Only once you are earning over the basic threshold for Bürgergeld will your benefits stop. At this point if you still need some financial assistance then you can apply for the benefits Kinderzuschlag from the Familienkasse and Wohngeld from the Sozialamt.

Best,

Éanna

Comments

Thank you so much for the detailed response. l am grateful..

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You're welcome!