Picking the right English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin
Meeting with English-speaking tax advisor in Berlin makes sense for a lot of us. The German tax system is famously complicated and the initial costs of having one often yields good results.
These swish-army knives are relevant to many parts our lives as tax-payers, entrepreneurs or even just as a family. Their precious advice can make a significant impact so it feels right to spend a bit of time picking the right one for your situation.
This guide helps you decide if you actually need a Steuerberater, how to pick the right one and presents alternative options if you don’t want to.
Tax advisor in Berlin: TL;DR
This is a summary of this post, feel free to get into details underneath:
- A Steuerberater is a tax advisor with training in many different areas of tax law, accounting & commercial law. Their services are often worth the price.
- They can help you across many different stages of your life, as an employee or as a freelancer. They can represent you in front of tax authorities or courts.
- Employees probably don’t need one if their situation is simple enough. Hire one if you have a lot of different assets, revenue streams, family members & limited time to do it all. Online tax declaration tools already go a long way for most people.
- Self-employed people can get a tax advisor but don’t need to. Using good book-keeping software in Germany is often enough for most people. It’s still worth it if you have limited time & a complicated situation: tax advisor costs can be put off in taxes.
- When looking for a tax advisor in Berlin, pick one that has clients similar to you, somebody that good reputation/reviews, with good chemistry & good communication. Always ask for pricing details before-hand.
- We list here ways to find a good match for you.
Back is to basics: what is a Steuerbrater doing exactly?
I have always found the role of a Steuerberater fascinating. This only exists in Germany der this form. Part accountant, part legal advisor, they have many functions and can be helpful in many cases.
- A licensed Steuerberater is studying many different modules to be able to get a license. Most of it revolves around tax law of course, but they also study economics, professional law, accounting and many other fundamentals of commercial or civil law.
- Passing the state examination called “Steuerberaterprüfung” grants them a nation wide license that separate them from other professions like accountant (Buchhalter) for example.
- Apart from typical administration tasks, an English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin can also represent you at the Finanzamt or even in the court in some cases. Like a lawyer, they can be held liable for any mistakes or misrepresentations.
Here are all the roles of tax consultant in Germany:
- General advice on tax issues for companies and private persons
- Advice on business related issues
- Optimization of your profile as a tax payer to make the most of tax-relief system
- Accounting and finance
- Payroll management
- Building and maintaining a balance sheet
- Annual financial statements
- VAT declarations (monthly/quarterly)
- Einnahmen/Überschussrechnung for self-employed people
- Tax returns
- Help with communication between you and the Finanzamt
- Advice when created a legal structure for a company
- Asset investment and planning
- Advice on controlling and invoicing
Aa Steuerberater also takes over liability of in front of public authorities when you become their clients. Any misrepresentation or mistake is their responsibility. They have a solemn duty to be correct in everything they submit on your behalf. They are legally liable for it.
What to look for in an English-speaking tax advisor in Berlin
The right league
So what qualities should one expect when looking for an English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin? It’s all a bit subjective of course but it’s probably a good idea to pick one depending on their focus and their existing clients. Most tax advisors have areas in which they are good at, which in turn brings a certain clientele.
Let me give an example: if you earn well as an entrepreneur, invest in the stock-market and you own 2 houses already, it’s probably a good idea to find someone that has experience in the same cases already. They will know what your questions you will ask, and the situation you are in. For us foreigners, that is key because you want someone that can handle foreign income or a change of country of residence.
Good reviews
A quick google search helps you find out the reputation of English-speaking tax consultants in Berlin. No need to aim for a perfect 5-star score, but recurring complains over a long period of time can help you identify obvious low-performers and bad conduct.
Good chemistry
Objective criteria are the right way to find the few among the many. However, when it comes down to finding the one, it’s a bit like picking your doctor. You need to feel comfortable talking about intimate stuff and you should feel good when sitting in the same room with them. It has to simply click. To each their own; do you want someone conservative or modern? A young practice or an older one? Man or woman? How is the pedagogy around complicated issues? etc.
Stellar communication
This relates to the second point but it’s good to stress this again. A good tax advisor should have excellent communication skills and be reachable fairly quickly. That’s also how they can support you. This becomes quite relevant during difficult times like buying a house or creating a company. You want someone on the phone to be there to reassure you and answer questions.
A problem clearly communicated is already part of the solution.
Questions to ask during a first meeting with an English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin
- Do you have experience with my situation/profile?
See above.
- How much work should you takeover from me?
This is more relevant for self-employed people. It’s about making clear if you want full assistance on daily tasks or simply occasional help, or anything in between. Simple things doing invoicing and VAT declaration are easy enough for you to do alone, but you are maybe glad to give away the rest.
- Who is my contact person?
In bigger practices, the person you meet is not always the person that will answer you calls, make sure you define who is your prefereed contact person. Important if you have a good feeling about the person.
Where to look for a English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin
Recommendations
The first things that comes to mind is of course to ask your friends and colleagues. This has the advantage to also naturally guide you to professional with the right experience for you. We tend to often mingle with people with same situations as ours. It’s a good start.
Our friends at All about Berlin have assembled a list you can check here.
Online platforms
Online platforms like Your Xpert are connecting people in need of English-speaking tax consultants in Berlin with the right fit for their profile. In just a few clicks, you can describe in English your situation, not matter how simple or complicated, and receive a few offers from different professionals, free of charge, within a few hours. That’s excellent to use competition and get the best offer.
Make use of the competition to get the best offer.
On demand tax advisor for freelancers
If you are a freelancer, and you haven’t been using a bookkeeping software, you should really consider one (some options here). Sorted is one of those options, available 100% in English. Not only have they designed great software to help you create invoices, register expenses and declare your taxes, but it’s also connecting you with a Steuerberater on demand, if you need one.
The official portals
Steuerberaters have professional associations which lists registered professionals. It’s thus natural to look at their database when looking for help. Here is the search form from the Deutscher Steuerberater Verband and here from DATEV. Search filters are handy to find an English-speaking Steuerberater in Berlin or even in other languages.
FAQ
How much does an English-speaking tax consultant in Berlin cost?
Fees applied are controlled by regulations but they leave a bit of room for the tax advisor to decide their rate. These fees are structured in an official table that put common tasks in categories (from 1/10 to 10/10 or from 1/20 to 20/20). You can see here the piece of law that defines that for each task. It’s basically an attempt at assessing the Steuerberater’s effort in executing the task and what fair monetary reward it comes with.
- Common employees cases will cost anywhere between 200€ to 1500€ for a yearly tax declaration, depending on your income.
- Self-employed people can use a Steuerberater in Berlin for yearly services or for monthly services for accounting + VAT declaration.
This is for the broad scope but what about actual numbers? There are tables that define the maximum rate (10/10) depending on the value of the item/asset/income managed during said task. This table here for example defines the maximum amount that a Steuerberater can bill for the yearly tax return, depending on the total amount declared.
I found 2 calculators you can use to get a better idea:
- One is in English by SteuerGo but only applies to employees.
- The one is in German but covers almost a lot more consulting cases, done by a consultant practice.
Bottom line: ask what fees you should expect and do not hesitate to question their fees if they go over. In any case, they have to justify why they bill you they way they do.
Is the first meeting with a Steuerberater always for free?
This is a common misconception. The answer is: not always. In most cases, the first meeting is just to get to know each other and to talk about generic things like your situation, how they can help you. In this case, there was no consulting done, so no fees should be charged. If you dived in technical things right away, using their expertise and getting answers, you might be charged for that. Always ask first if you are unsure.
Be aware of what counts as consultancy; you might pay for it, even for a first meeting.
Who should hire a tax consultant in Germany?
If you are an employee whose sole income come from the job, there is probably no need to hire one. Self-help online services are probably good enough. On the other hand, it’s probably a good idea if you are in one or more of these situations: self-employed people, people with property, stocks, shares in companies, income from rental investments, people operating their own companies.
The idea is that the ROI of paying a professional to do that justifies the expenses. Do remember that costs of a tax advisor in Germany are always deductible against your taxes.
What are alternatives to an English-speaking tax advisor in Berlin?
If you are part of the people that aren’t after the counseling an advisor can offer, you might want to be looking into different software solutions to execute the pure administrative tasks needed for your case. If your situation is simple enough and you just want to do a yearly tax return, platforms like Steuergo, TaxFix or Wundertax can help you do that in English.
If you run a small company or if you are self-employed, there are different software solutions that can replace the functions of a Steuerberater (though not the advice!) on day to day things. Sorted is a good option for that as it covers invoicing, accounting (VAT statements & profit loss reports, etc) as well as banking in one, in English too. This is smart even if you have an advisor; you can give them access to your data which makes their work much easier, resulting often in lower consulting fees!
I hope this article helps you to start your search. Do add in the comments if i forgot something or if there are more suggestions to questions to ask during the first meeting. Good luck. 🙂
Hi Bastien,
I am UK self employed, based in the UK, working as an Amazon online seller since August 2017. Since October 2020 I am a VAT registered in Germany. My VAT number is: 25/249/38802.
The problem is that I believe that Amazon was reporting wrong figures of my sales to German VAT authorities (turnover net) and that’s why, the VAT liability that I have to pay was so higher than it should be.
Now I want to do the tax return through another tax agent, not through Amazon partner.
1. I need to correct the payments I did for October, November and December 2020 with German VAT authorities.
2. And to report the right sales for January, February, March and April 2021. Also, will keep reporting my turnover net quarterly.
How can I find a tax agent please? How much do you think their fees?
Kind regards,
Muayad
Hey Muayad. Sorry to hear about your troubles. How about here?
Hello, may I please know if for example I hired a tax advisor and paid him 400€, will i be able to get that money (meaning the 400€) back thru the tax return? Thanks!
Hey there. Yes, this expense is deductible as pointed out in this post too.
Hello Bastien,
Good article thanks. You mentioned that there are online platforms that can help you find the right tax consultant for you. Can you name a few ?
Thanks
Hi Basti,
Thank you very much for all those useful information.
I have been working as a full time employee with a company in Köln and decided to move to freelance. My company doest not want me to leave, so they asked me to work as a freelancer for them and asked me to check what needs to be done too start such activity. I read that this is a kind of Scheinselbständigkeit if you work as a freelancer for a former employer.
Is there a Legal way to start such working relationship with them?
Best Regards
Karim
Hey Karim. Yes, that would typically be the kind of suspicious situation but it may be legal if they are not your only one client and they don’t constitute the majority of your income, as mentioned in the post.
For employers, are there any online tools to use for tax and salary administration rather than a consultant?
Hey Floris. Something like Personio you mean?
Hi, thanks for the guidelines! I am now searching for an easiest option on how to apply for a tax return as I am now outside of Germany since mid January 2021, yet the whole year 2020 I was employed and registered in Germany. My Anmeldung is no longer active since Jan 2021 and therefore I am not sure how to proceed with my tax return as I will not be able to pick any correspondence to my previously registered address.
Hey Marek. As mentioned in the FAQ of the post about tax return, you can do a tax return even after you have left the country.
Hello
I am an expat working as Head of Growth and Product Marketing at … I want to now file my returns for the year 2020. I had salaries income, share market (stock) capital gains and also I received the ESOPS from my company where the tax was around 55% . I received the money after tax. I believe I was charged more tax and I should be getting relief/refund on taxes.Also, in April 2021, I would be getting married. So my Tax class will change and I’ld like to know what benefits will I get when my tax class changes and if my wife is a student vs working professional.
tax relief planning etc
Further, I am looking for a long term relationship with the English speaking tax advisor as I would need assistance while buying the property, opening my company etc in near future.
Please let me some really good tax advisor or virtual appointment on Zoom or Google Handout. I am happy to so as well. But due to current restrictions, it is okay to videocall/phonecall.
S
Hey Sam. Here is a post about tax classes. Can’t make direct recommandations for specific tax advisors.
What an amazing article! And do you know how much will it be for tax filling?
– married couple
– working in Germany (one person worked in Switzerland until March)
– Some sold stocks
– additional small income Self-employed
Thank you
Hey George. Price are regulated and it’s up to Steuerberater to make you an offer. Can’t name a price for you.
Thanks for the article I already have a tax advisor but need someone to help me do a few administrative things like change my VAT returns and some admin with the Arbeit Argentur. Any suggestions please?
Hey Mark. Expath maybe?
Wonderful article! However i have massive issues with my former tax advisor along with a handful of other freelancers I know. I went to a legal consultant, and he told me there is a office for filing tax adviser complaints that could cost him his practicing license. He’s done wrong by so many expats including myself the last thing I’d want is for him strike again. Do you know of this office for reporting bad tax advisor practices or where I might be able to look? Thank so much 🙂
Hey there. Sorry to hear about your experience, do you mean this : https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/
So sorry to read of your bad experience. I’m looking for a tax advisor/accountant now and would hate to accidentally engage this individual – I realise you might not want to name and shame them here but perhaps you could say if their name is present on this list > allaboutberlin.com/guides/english-speaking-steuerberater-berlin
Hi Same Jame, as we are looking into a new tax advisor, would you mind letting us know who the tax advixor is that you and many others had issues with? I would hate to hire him 🙁 Thank you so much!
Hey Buddy, great article. Do you know if Tax Consultants fees are refundable? I recently used a Tax Consultant and he tells me that 5/7th of his fees was claimable under expense. Is that true? Would you know how their fees is treated by the Tax Authorities?
Hey Ravi. Yes, tax consultant fees can be deducted. Correct.
You are really helping many with such simplified Information sharing. Thank you!
Can you please suggest if Tax filing has to be done for 2 consecutive years – 2018 and 2019 in my case should the Steuerberater charge fees for each filing year (around 500 Euros) or one fees for both year (around 250) ? thanks in advance
Hey Anand. One fee for each year.
Great day to you.
I have a Client who need a services to complete Germany accounting and tax obligation. The Client is incorporated in 26-02-19.
i) What is the 1st financial year ended?
ii) Do we need to submit audited financial statement?
iii) Will there be any government charges for submitting annual filling or tax filling?
iv) What are the necessary monthly/quarterly or annual fillings and due dates?
v) If any necessary filling what is the due date?
vi) Any others obligation?
vii) Can you confirm what is your fees to provide us package fees to complete the accounting and tax? The transaction will be i) yearly -50 transaction ii) 51-150 and iii) more than 150.
Hey Sharon. I am no tax consultant. I cannot help you sorry.
Hi, My sister, who no longer lives in Germany, receives a Pension into her account in Dublin, Ireland from the Renten Service in Berlin. She’s been receiving this pendsion for the last 5 years but only got a notice of Tax Due last year. They want €5,600 from her. She’s totally shocked!! She doesn’t have that kind of money at her dissposal. They’ve also said by non-commpliance, €50 would be added each month to her bill. They’ve also threatened a cout order to sieze her assets!! She has no assets beside her furniture. She’s very worried about this. I live in Berlin and was hoping to get some help from a Tax expert whose not expensive. Thank you. June
Hi,
I would like to ask an advise , I have one english speaking tax consultant, I asked him o do my tax declaration in March provided all the documents . I have a full time job and occasionally i work also in events which means I am also a self employment . He didnt do anything until now claminin that in Belin the tax offices are to buys. Now he send me a declaration only on my self employment declaration , claming he is doing a favour to me . Obviously i am really upset with this situation. Do I have the right to claim my money back, if yes how?
Thanks
Hi, thank you for your article. Would you know where I can find 1) a list of allowed deductions 2) whether with 2 children, I should declare 2 parts or 2,5 parts. I am a full time employee with a single income but I cannot find those basic information that would help me a lot to file my tax declaration ..
Hey Emmanuel. 1- This website can help 2)Check point 5 of this page. Good luck.
Hello,
Hope you are well
We have a DE entity in Jesteburg Germany and looking for tax consultant for Corporate Tax, VAT and Payroll. Would you be able to have call to discuss further
Thanks & Regards,
Nimaal
Hi, what do you think about Wundertax? Is it a good platform?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Balazs, i have never used it personally. I’m grateful for any reviews as well.
Just asked them about my declaration and they said: “please note that we don’t provide individual tax advice. We only provide software to file your (annual) tax return yourself (so we can’t help with “Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung”).”
Hope it helps!