The introduction of the e-invoicing requirement from 1 January 2025 poses enormous challenges for smaller companies in particular. At the same time, it offers a great opportunity, because by switching to e-invoicing, companies can not only meet legal requirements, but also lay the foundation for comprehensive digitalisation and automation of their business processes.
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A foundation as a ‘legally independent estate’ also requires management and must be represented externally, similar to associations or corporations, for example. This task is performed by the foundation’s board of directors. This article takes a closer look at the tasks of the foundation board, its remuneration and liability issues.
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Digitalisation is bringing about many changes. This also affects the way invoices are received and issued.
With effect from 2025, the Growth Opportunities Act has introduced new regulations into the VAT Act that are important for business owners in Germany – and these include landlords! These changes are aimed at digitalising the process of issuing and receiving invoices.
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Every now and then, employers want to or have to let employees go, but the law on protection against dismissal does not quite play along. Severance payments in termination agreements are then a common way of sweetening the pill for employees. But are outplacement or new placement a good alternative to make it easier for employees to say goodbye and make a fresh start?
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Employers often cover training costs for their employees. However, employers do not have a statutory right of repayment against employees if employees leave the company shortly after training, for example. However, (labour) contract regulations on the repayment of training costs can solve this problem in an interest-oriented manner.
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Employers often use recruitment agencies to recruit staff. A contractual clause that obliges employees to repay the agency commission in the event of premature termination is invalid. Find out more about the details and the ruling of the Federal Labor Court here.
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The Skilled Immigration Act is intended to counteract the enormous shortage of skilled workers in Germany. Following the first stage in November 2023 and the second stage in March 2024, the third stage will now bring about changes to the immigration of skilled workers for the last time.
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With the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing as part of the Growth Opportunities Act passed on 22 March 2024, companies in Germany are facing a significant change. However, instead of a bureaucratic nightmare, this change also offers opportunities for increased efficiency and digital transformation. Companies should therefore not view the implementation of the legal requirements as a chore,
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Since November 2023, the first adjustments to the right of residence under the Skilled Immigration Act have taken effect. Since the beginning of March 2024, further regulations have been in place to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers in order to counteract the shortage of skilled workers.
In this article,
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The idea of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value – equal pay – is not new. And yet this demand has only really gained momentum in recent years. However, equal pay naturally requires transparency as to who receives what pay in what function. This is where the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive (EntgTranspRL) comes in.
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When it comes to maternity protection pay and the amount of maternity protection pay under the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG), the last three months before the start of a pregnancy are relevant for the calculation. This is not a problem for women with a fixed monthly income or a low proportion of variable remuneration.
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Bogus self-employment is a recurring issue for companies that employ freelancers and for freelancers themselves. And yet both sides tend to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to this issue and hope that everything will work out. However, it would be better to address this problem proactively and find solutions.
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Employers have the option of paying their employees tax-free allowances in addition to their salary for the care of their non-school-age children in kindergartens or similar facilities.
Read the following article to find out which facilities are eligible and which regulations and requirements apply.
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Focus on the BAG ruling from August 24, 2023
In a recent employment law case, an employee was terminated without notice after insulting, racist, sexist and violence-glorifying remarks surfaced in a chat group with colleagues. The members of the group were long-time friends and colleagues, but the employer learned of the remarks and terminated the employee.
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Due to demographic change, the topic of company succession is becoming increasingly explosive, especially in medium-sized businesses. It requires careful preparation and poses numerous challenges for both the transferor and the transferee. Moreover, a takeover process can extend over several years if legal and tax aspects are to be used optimally.
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How to inspire top talents with flexible working models and keep legal and tax aspects in focus.
In today’s working world, flexibility is becoming increasingly important, both for employers and employees. One innovative option that has emerged in recent years is workation.
Workation combines work and leisure by allowing employees to work in an attractive location abroad.
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The lump-sum wage taxation according to §37b EStG offers employers the possibility to tax certain benefits in kind to employees with a uniform tax rate of 30%.
There is a choice between taxing the benefits in kind at the employee’s individual tax rate or lump-sum taxation, in which the employer bears the amount of payroll tax alone.
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The Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) is currently on everyone’s lips – after all, the legislator has managed to transpose the EU Whistleblower Directive into federal law: the Whistleblower Protection Act will come into force on July 2, 2023.
The main focus of discussion is the obligation, from a compliance point of view,
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Employing full pensioners is a good way for employers to fill staffing gaps in times of a shortage of skilled workers and general staff shortages. In particular, the use of full pensioners is relatively uncomplicated for employers: in many respects it is no different from the use of non-pensioners, and in some cases there are even advantages.
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Everyone is talking about a shortage of skilled workers – but what can companies do to retain good employees in the long term? In addition to a good working atmosphere, performance-related pay is of course a very important factor. However, more than half of every euro of a salary increase often goes to taxes and social security contributions.
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At the end of 2022, the German Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht – BAG) issued a landmark ruling stating that recording working hours is no longer a “can” but a “must”. Employers must – even now! – record the working hours of their employees. For new-work models based on trust-based working time,
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In 2023, there are once again a number of adjustments to be made in the area of wage tax and social security law. Overview of relevant changes for employers:
Whether and when vacation becomes time-barred is a question that can of course also be of burning interest to employers: After all, whether their own employees are still entitled to vacation or not can become relevant above all if an employee leaves the company and in this context asserts claims for vacation compensation.
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Important changes will come into effect for employers and employees in 2023:
The paper sick bill – the famous “yellow bill” – will be abolished for those with statutory health insurance and replaced by an electronic certificate of incapacity to work. For employers, participation in the digital process will be mandatory from 2023.
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As part of the irregularly scheduled external wage tax audit, checks are made to see whether employers are properly paying wage tax for their employees. During the social security audit, the German Pension Insurance checks every four years, among other things, whether social security contributions have been correctly paid.
Our experience shows: The auditors are looking ever more closely and demanding more information or evidence.
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From 01 October 2022, the statutory minimum wage will increase to EUR 12 per hour. At the same time, the remuneration for mini-jobs will be increased from EUR 450 to EUR 520 per month.
In connection with the mini-job, there are a number of things to consider from an employment law perspective.
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Evidence Act: Employment contracts must be put to the test with regard to mandatory transparent working conditions
From 1 August 2022, the amended regulations of the Verification Act will apply. The background to this is the EU Directive 2019/1152 (Working Conditions Directive), which comes into force on 31 July 2019.
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Information about a GbR and the persons behind the GbR has not been as easy to obtain as, for example, in the case of a GmbH.
This will change on 01.01.2024 when the Act to Modernise the Law on Partnerships (MoPeG) introduces the company register for civil law companies.
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Overtime and its compensation are often the cause of disputes between employees and employers. This is especially true when overtime is still “on the books” after a dismissal and ex-employees want to be paid for this overtime.
But who has to prove whether overtime was actually worked? So far,
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Discussions between employers or supervisors and employees are often delicate. If conflicts are smouldering or have already erupted in the working relationship, they can become very verbal.
It is not uncommon for employees to reach for their smartphones and secretly record conversations with their employers or superiors that are supposed to be confidential.
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GmbHs and UGs must correctly enter beneficial owners in the transparency register by June 30, 2022. Otherwise, those responsible will face heavy fines.
Read more about the transparency register and the registration deadline.
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For employers as well as for students, a working student contract is an interesting thing. Employers have fewer ancillary wage costs, and students have more net left over from the gross of their salary.
To do everything right from a tax perspective, employers need to pay attention to some important issues.
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Since January 01, 2022, the limit for tax-free benefits in kind has been raised from 44 EUR to 50 EUR per month.
The 30% flat-rate tax is not applied if the employer provides non-cash benefits to employees that do not qualify as non-cash benefits subject to payroll tax.
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