📋 Registration, immediate notification and accident insurance
In brief
When you hire someone, you register the person with social insurance. The notification goes to the health insurance fund (for mini-jobs, to the Minijob-Zentrale).
In some sectors you must report the person immediately at the start of work, for example in construction, hospitality, hairdressing, building cleaning or passenger transport. The full list is in the in-depth section.
You must also notify your business to the responsible Berufsgenossenschaft or Unfallkasse. The deadline is one week after the start of the business.
For registration, use a payroll program or the SV-Meldeportal (filling-in aid).
Step by step
- Check your sectorIs your business one of the sectors requiring immediate notification? Then report when work starts.
- Establishment number and reporting routeAn establishment number (Betriebsnummer) is required for notifications; report via payroll program or filling-in aid.
- Notify the BerufsgenossenschaftState the type of business, number of insured persons and opening date.
- Observe the duty to inform and to keep recordsEmployees in sectors requiring immediate notification carry their ID and show it to the customs authority (Zoll) (§ 2a Abs. 1 SchwarzArbG). As the employer, you demonstrably point this out in writing before work begins, keep the notice for the duration of the work and present it on inspection (§ 2a Abs. 2 SchwarzArbG).
Deadlines
- A missing immediate notification is a typical inspection point for the customs authority; fine of up to €25,000 (§ 111 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 i. V. m. Abs. 4 SGB IV).
- The notification to the Berufsgenossenschaft is deemed fulfilled if the business registration was submitted on time to the responsible office (§ 192 Abs. 1 SGB VII).
- Regular employees (not subject to immediate notification): registration with the first following payroll, at the latest within six weeks after the start of employment (§ 6 DEÜV).
- From 1 January 2026, the separation of the contribution statement by legal area West and East no longer applies; a joint contribution statement is sufficient. Standing contribution statements for the legal area East must be resubmitted from contribution month January 2026.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
General reporting duty
§ 28a Abs. 1 Satz 1 SGB IV: the employer must submit a notification to the collection office "at the start of employment subject to social insurance", and in further cases (such as the end of employment, changes). Under § 6 of the Datenerfassungs- und -übermittlungsverordnung (DEÜV), registration takes place with the first following payroll, at the latest within six weeks after the start of employment.
Immediate notification (§ 28a Abs. 4 SGB IV)
The immediate notification goes to the Datenstelle der Rentenversicherung (DSRV) (§ 28a Abs. 4 Satz 1 SGB IV); the notification under para. 1 goes to the collection office (health insurance fund, for mini-jobs the Minijob-Zentrale). Employers in the following economic sectors must report the start of employment at the latest when employment begins: construction; hospitality and accommodation; passenger transport; freight forwarding, transport and related logistics (including platform-based delivery services); showmen's trade; building cleaning; setting up and dismantling trade fairs and exhibitions; meat industry (except butchers' trade); prostitution trade; security and guarding services; hairdressing and cosmetics trade. The list is exhaustive (eleven areas, § 28a Abs. 4 SGB IV as in force from 1 January 2026).
Accident insurance
Under § 192 Abs. 1 SGB VII, entrepreneurs must notify the responsible accident insurance body, within one week after the start of the business, of the type and subject of the business, the number of insured persons and the opening day or the day preparatory work began.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.