Sources and method – Self-employed people
On the reform of mandatory retirement provision for self-employed people
As of September 2026 there is no enacted general statutory retirement provision obligation for all self-employed people. The pension commission (Alterssicherungskommission) presented its final report on 23 June 2026, and on 2 July 2026 the coalition committee decided to implement its recommendations, with the aim of completing the legislative process by the end of 2026. This website expressly treats the cut-off date, the design of the opt-out, exemption thresholds and transitional periods as not yet officially confirmed and presents only the existing legal framework (§§ 2, 6 SGB VI) as applicable law. Before any binding advice, the current state of legislation should be checked at bundesregierung.de or bmas.de.
Sources
- Gesetze im Internet (gesetze-im-internet.de), Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Office of Justice, retrieved September 2026: consolidated versions of EStG, GewO, AO, IHKG, SGB II, SGB III, SGB IV, SGB V, SGB VI, SGB VII, KSVG, UStG, GewStG, BGB, ZPO, InsO, BEEG, MuSchG, StGB, BRAO, StBerG, VAG. Basis for all sections cited in the text.
- Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency) (arbeitsagentur.de), information sheets on the start-up grant (Gründungszuschuss) and entry allowance (Einstiegsgeld) as well as the technical directives (Fachliche Weisungen) on § 41a SGB II, as of 2026.
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (deutsche-rentenversicherung.de, rvrecht.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de), encyclopedia entries on compulsory pension insurance for self-employed people, on the status determination procedure under § 7a SGB IV and on the clearing office (Clearingstelle).
- Künstlersozialkasse (Artists' Social Insurance Fund) (kuenstlersozialkasse.de), notice of 29 July 2025 on the artists' social insurance levy rate for 2026 (4.9%); information brochures on obligations of commissioning parties and audits.
- GKV-Spitzenverband (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds) (gkv-spitzenverband.de), contribution procedure principles for self-payers; Federal Ministry of Health, information on the GKV-Versichertenentlastungsgesetz.
- Federal Government / BMAS (bundesregierung.de, bmas.de), FAQ and announcements on the pension commission and the pension reform, as of 2 July 2026.
- Bundessozialgericht (Federal Social Court), judgment of 27 October 2022, B 10 EG 4/20 R (bsg.bund.de) – on the independence of provisional parental allowance awards.
- Deutsche Bundesbank (bundesbank.de) – current base interest rate under § 247 BGB, changes every six months.
- Verband der Gründer und Selbstständigen Deutschland e. V. (VGSD) (vgsd.de) – secondary source, marked as the association's own statements, on reform assessments and advisory services.
Where information is expressly marked as uncertain
For individual figures, deadlines or procedural details, no direct official primary source could be found or finally cross-checked during the research. In such cases this website does not invent values but states the uncertainty on the topic page concerned and collected here. This applies in particular to:
- Retirement provision reform (topic “Compulsory pension insurance and planned retirement provision obligation”): cut-off date for inclusion, exact opt-out design for existing self-employed people, exemption thresholds and transitional periods – not officially and conclusively confirmed as of September 2026, legislative process ongoing.
- Amount of the entry allowance (Einstiegsgeld) and a maximum amount of around €5,000 for benefits under § 16c SGB II mentioned in secondary sources (topic “Start-up grant and entry allowance”) – not verified against the text of the ordinance or statute itself.
- Minimum assessment base for voluntary health insurance in 2026 (around €1,318/month) and maximum contribution in the private health insurance basic tariff (around €1,017/month) (topic “Health insurance for self-employed people”) – calculation formula confirmed in the statute, actual euro amounts supported only by secondary sources.
- De minimis threshold of the artists' social insurance levy of €1,000/year from 2026 (topic “Artists' Social Insurance Fund”) – not verified against the text of the KSVG provisions itself.
- Permanent extension of the VAT filing deadline (UStDV) and the trade tax allowance of €24,500 under § 11 GewStG (topic “Taxes and advance payments”) – existence of the rules confirmed, ordinance or detailed text not checked again in full text in this research.
- Current base interest rate under § 247 BGB (topics “Payment default and liquidity”, “Contract law and dunning”) – changes every six months on 1 January and 1 July; before any interest calculation, look it up with the Deutsche Bundesbank on the day, do not adopt it as a fixed value.
- Two-month deadline for final information for self-employed people receiving basic income support (Grundsicherungsgeld, until 30 June 2026 Bürgergeld) and a possible flat-rate business expense allowance (topic “Supplementary basic income support for self-employed people”) – administrative practice according to a technical directive, no fixed statutory deadline, or not confirmed against the ordinance text.
- Waiting periods and minimum commitment periods for sickness benefit optional tariffs (topic “Illness and income replacement for self-employed people”) – depend on the fund and tariff, not set uniformly by federal statute; example values given (e.g. day 15/22/43) are illustrative only.
- De minimis threshold of €35/month for mixed income and the link between maternity allowance and a sickness benefit optional tariff (topic “Parental allowance for self-employed people”) – not conclusively verified against the statutory text or case law on this individual case.
- 5/6 threshold for specifying “essentially only one client” under § 2 sentence 1 no. 9 SGB VI and the limitation period under § 25 SGB IV (topic “Recognising and clarifying false self-employment”) – threshold comes from secondary sources, not verbatim in the statutory text.
- StaRUG statutory text in detail (topic “Insolvency as a self-employed person”) – existence and basic mechanism confirmed, not checked in full text.
- Minimum insured sums of professional liability insurance for lawyers and tax advisers as well as a one-week deadline for registering with the statutory accident insurance (BG) (topic “Business insurance for self-employed people”) – basic obligations confirmed in statute, actual sums or deadlines supported only by secondary sources.
- KfW advisory funding (topic “Advice and points of contact”) – recorded only via secondary sources from the chambers, not verified directly on kfw.de.
In all these cases the topic page concerned expressly states the uncertainty instead of presenting a figure or assessment as settled law.
What this platform does – and what it does not
- Figures, deadlines, amounts and legal bases come from the sources named. Nothing was added that is not supported there. Where a statement could not be verified with certainty, this is stated on the page concerned instead of guessing.
- Statutory sections, deadlines, euro amounts and percentages were not invented. Where a value could not be verified with certainty from a primary source – in particular in the ongoing reform of the retirement provision obligation, exact KSK de minimis thresholds or contribution assessment ceilings – the legal mechanism is described instead and the figure is expressly marked as uncertain.
- The law for self-employed people is in flux in several areas, above all the retirement provision obligation. The information does not replace legal or tax advice in an individual case.
- Values that depend on the fund, chamber or tariff (e.g. waiting periods for sickness benefit optional tariffs, IHK start-up discounts) are marked as “not uniform nationwide” instead of being given an invented uniform figure.
- If in doubt, contact an advice centre, chamber, health insurance fund or a lawyer or tax adviser straight away – see Advice and points of contact.