Definitely recommend their services. I needed an official certificate, which was prepared on time and exactly as requested. I also asked for a small correction afterwards, and it was handled quickly and without any issues. The whole process was smooth, professional, and very convenient. Thank you for making accounting-related matters much easier!
Hire in Germany. Directly.
HireGermany registers your foreign company for the German employer infrastructure required to employ team members in Germany directly — without an EOR and without setting up a German UG or GmbH upfront. We then handle payroll and ongoing social-security compliance.
€50/ employee / month
German EmploymentEU & non-EU
Sample payslipEmployee · Berlin · €8,750 gross
Employer cost€10,480
Gross salary€8,750
Net pay€7,212
Illustrative preview inspired by a DATEV payroll layout.DATEV
Direct employment.Without EOR pricing.
HireGermany is built for foreign companies employing people directly in Germany.
German employer registration
Payroll
Social security
Ongoing compliance
Know what the hire really costs.
See total employer cost, contractual gross salary and the actual cash paid to the employee when no German wage tax is withheld by the foreign employer.
Employee details
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Advanced settings
Insurer-specific 2026 rates are prefilled for the listed providers. Use Other / Custom for a different health insurer or tariff.
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Total Employer Cost
€10,480.12
Your total monthly cost for this employee
Out of which:
Employee Pay€7,212.31
Employee, Employer Social Security + Levies€3,267.81
Gross Salary
€8,750.00
Contractual monthly gross salary
Employee Pay
€7,212.31
Net + Income Tax · actual cash paid to the employee
Employee Social Security€1,537.69
Paid by the employee via gross salary
Employer Social Security€1,502.82
Paid by the employer
Employer Levies€227.31
Paid by the employer
Contribution breakdown
Contribution
Employee
Employer
Health insurance
€502.49
€502.49
Long-term care
€139.50
€104.62
Pension insurance
€785.85
€785.85
Unemployment insurance
€109.85
€109.85
U1 levy
—
€177.45
U2 levy
—
€37.18
Insolvency levy
—
€12.68
Statutory accident insurance (BG)
—
Not included*
* Additional employer cost. It is calculated separately and is typically charged annually. The exact contribution depends on the responsible Berufsgenossenschaft and the employer's risk classification. For many office-based businesses covered by the VBG, it is typically around 0.2%–0.4% of gross salary (about €10–€20 per month at €5,000 gross). Find out more in the FAQ.
2026 basis: KV/PV contribution ceiling €5,812.50/month; RV/AV contribution ceiling €8,450/month; pension insurance 18.6%; unemployment insurance 2.6%; insolvency levy 0.15%. Provider-specific health-insurance and U1/U2 rates vary.
Direct employment. Without EOR pricing.
No percentage of salary and no recurring EOR markup. You pay for the German employer infrastructure you actually need.
Employer setup
€200
one-time
German employer registration
Registration workflow for the German employer infrastructure required to run payroll and social-security reporting. Full scope explained in the FAQ.
Ongoing service
€50
per employee / month
Payroll & employer compliance
Ongoing German payroll and social-security processing per employee. Full scope explained in the FAQ.
Payroll software
Processed with DATEV
Payroll handled with trusted German payroll software. Ensures accurate payroll accounting and compliance with German tax and social-security requirements.
No percentage of salary. No intermediary employer layer. HireGermany remains a service around your direct employment relationship.
Not a self-service platform. Employer registration, monthly payroll and statutory filings are handled for you by a German certified tax advisory firm.
Direct employment isn’t just cheaper. It’s a different relationship.
HireGermany lets an international company employ in Germany directly — with the German employer infrastructure handled around the relationship, not placed in between it.
Lower ongoing cost
Avoid the recurring per-employee EOR layer. HireGermany is built around your own company becoming the direct employer.
Quick setup
A typical employer-registration process takes around 3–7 weeks, with provisional payroll possible where needed.
German compliance
Payroll, social security and employer filings are handled by German Certified Tax Advisors and tied to the actual registration setup.
No German entity upfront
Hire directly without first setting up a German capital company such as a UG or GmbH. Whether the employee's activities create a German permanent establishment is assessed separately.
Built for long-term hiring
Direct employment does not rely on an employee-leasing arrangement. German temporary agency work can be subject to a statutory 18-month maximum assignment period, subject to applicable exceptions and collective-agreement rules.
Equity & VSOP friendly
Build compensation directly between your company and your German employee, including equity, stock options or VSOP participation where appropriate.
You employ the person. Not an intermediary.
An EOR solves the problem by becoming the local employer. HireGermany solves it by helping your own company operate as the foreign employer in Germany.
Employer of Record
A third party employs your hire.
×The employee sits on the EOR's German entity.
×Pricing commonly scales with each employee.
×You may later need to migrate the employee when you establish locally.
HireGermany
Your company remains the employer.
✓Your employee joins your company — not ours. Direct contractual relationship with the actual employer.
✓German payroll and social-security compliance built around your company.
✓A cleaner path to your own German entity when the business case is there.
From your first call to German payroll.
We handle the employer registration and payroll setup while your company remains the direct employer.
1. Register as employer
Provide your company information through our short employer questionnaire. For the employer setup, we also provide the Tax Advisory Agreement and Social Security Power of Attorney for signature. We handle German employer and social-security registration.
2. Provide employee details
We collect the employee details needed for payroll, tax and social-security registration through a short personnel questionnaire.
3. Start payroll
Payroll is prepared for the employee, including German social-security deductions and employer contributions. We keep the recurring payroll and employer compliance process moving each month.
HireGermany is backed by German Certified Tax Advisors.
HireGermany is not a global HR platform with a Germany page bolted on. Employer registration, payroll and related questions are handled within our German tax advisory infrastructure.
German Certified Tax Advisors support compliance with German tax, payroll and social-security requirements and provide expert guidance for employer registration and payroll processing.
That gives HireGermany a wider scope than payroll alone. We can support employees with their German income tax declarations, assess permanent-establishment risks as your activities grow, and help with the appropriate German setup later if needed.
One partner from first hire to German establishment.
Start with HireGermany and keep the same tax advisory infrastructure as your German business grows — without changing providers.
Start with HireGermany and keep the same tax advisory infrastructure as your German business grows — without changing providers.
1. Payroll & employer compliance
German employer registration, payroll, social-security filings and recurring compliance.
2. Employee tax declarations
We can also prepare German income tax declarations for employees, particularly relevant where no German wage tax is withheld through payroll.
3. PE risk assessment
Our Certified Tax Advisors can assess whether your employee's role and your growing German activities may create a permanent establishment.
4. German setup when needed
As your German footprint grows, we can assess whether your activities create a permanent establishment and, where appropriate, support the establishment of a German capital company such as a UG or GmbH.
Don't establish in Germany before you need to.
HireGermany gives you a practical starting point for the first German hire while keeping the tax implications of your growing German footprint in view.
1. First German hire
Hire directly through your foreign company.
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2. Build your German team
Run German payroll and employer compliance through HireGermany.
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3. Monitor your footprint
Assess permanent-establishment and German tax implications as local activities grow.
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4. Establish when needed
If the facts require a different German structure, we assess permanent-establishment implications and can support a German capital company such as a UG or GmbH — with the same advisory team.
HireGermany is a TaxGermany product backed by our German Certified Tax Advisors. The customer feedback below relates to the TaxGermany brand and advisory experience.
What our customers are saying
I had been struggling to find a tax advisor who could provide the tax audit reports I needed for my permanent residency application. Then I found Tax Germany, and in one sentence, they saved my life. I received exactly the documents I needed, and much faster than I expected. They also offered a free initial consultation. He was very honest and did not charge for unnecessary bureaucracy. I highly recommend him and this company if you need your documents prepared quickly as a freelancer.
Extremely grateful for the support from Tax Germany. The ease of requesting exactly what you need, to the specifics. The response time and turnover time is impeccable. I don't know how many tax advisor offices I contacted requesting support before finding out about taxgermany. Having lived in Germany for 5 years now, I really wish I would've known about them sooner.
The questions that actually come up.
Direct answers to the issues foreign employers usually need to resolve before the first German payroll.
What do the €200 setup fee and €50 monthly fee include?
The one-time €200 fee covers the initial setup of your foreign company for the German employer infrastructure required to run payroll and social-security reporting. This includes collecting and reviewing the required company information, preparing the employer registration workflow, coordinating the relevant German social-security registration steps and setting the company up for German payroll. The €50 monthly fee per employee covers ongoing German payroll processing, social-security calculations and filings, employee payslips, employer contribution calculations and recurring payroll reporting. Additional tax-advisory services such as employee income tax declarations or permanent-establishment assessments are separate services.
Which software is used for payroll accounting?
German payroll is handled locally as part of HireGermany’s ongoing employer service. Payroll processing is carried out using DATEV.
Can the employee pay the HireGermany fees?
Yes. The employee can cover the HireGermany fees personally. If the service is invoiced directly to an employee in Germany, German VAT is added where applicable. For a German private customer, the standard VAT rate is currently 19%.
Do you provide German employment contracts?
No. HireGermany does not provide or review employment contracts and does not offer employment-law advice. If you need support with a German employment contract or other employment-law questions, we can recommend a qualified German employment lawyer.
Can a foreign company hire directly in Germany without setting up a German company?
HireGermany can work for EU and non-EU companies that want to employ someone in Germany directly through their foreign company. Whether the setup is appropriate depends on the company's existing German presence and the employee's activities in Germany. You can hire directly through your foreign company without first incorporating a German UG or GmbH. Whether your activities create a German permanent establishment is a separate tax question.
How long does employer registration take?
A typical registration window is around 3–7 weeks, depending on processing by the German authorities. If the employee starts before all registration details are available, provisional payroll can be prepared and then finalised once the registrations are complete.
How do wage tax and social security work with HireGermany?
In the standard HireGermany setup, German wage tax is not withheld through payroll. German social-security contributions are still calculated and deducted because the employee works in Germany, subject to applicable cross-border and posting rules. This is why our calculator shows Employee Pay (Net + Income Tax): gross salary minus employee social-security contributions, before the employee's personal German income-tax payments. The employee generally pays German income tax directly through advance payments and/or the annual income-tax declaration.
Is HireGermany an Employer of Record?
No. With an EOR, a third party generally becomes the local employer. With HireGermany, your own company remains the employer and we build the German payroll and social-security infrastructure around that direct relationship.
Could the German employee create a permanent establishment for us?
Potentially. The answer depends on the employee's actual role, authority, working arrangements and the activities carried out in Germany. This is not merely a payroll question. Our German Certified Tax Advisors can assess the German tax implications and permanent-establishment risk alongside the employer setup.
What does statutory accident insurance (Berufsgenossenschaft) cost?
Statutory accident insurance is an additional employer cost and is paid entirely by the employer. It is calculated separately and is typically charged annually. The exact contribution depends on the responsible Berufsgenossenschaft, the employer's industry and its risk classification, so it is not included in the calculator total. For many office-based businesses covered by the VBG, the contribution is typically around 0.2%–0.4% of gross salary. As a practical example, at €5,000 gross salary this is often roughly €10–€20 per month. Other industries and Berufsgenossenschaften can differ materially.
Can you act as our authorised representative in Germany pursuant to Section 28f (1b) SGB IV?
The setup includes acting as the employer’s representative in Germany solely for the payroll-record obligations under Section 28f (1b) SGB IV. No broader legal, commercial or general representation of the employer in Germany is provided. In particular, we do not act on behalf of the employer outside the payroll/social-security scope, also to avoid creating any unnecessary permanent establishment implications.
Who is behind HireGermany?
HireGermany is a TaxGermany product backed by German Certified Tax Advisors. Employer registration, payroll and tax-related questions are handled within our German tax advisory infrastructure.
Not sure if direct employment works for your company?
Book a free call with our team. We’ll help you understand whether the HireGermany setup fits your planned German hire.