Your company works with freelancers, independent contractors or consultants in Germany, some of them for a long time and closely integrated, or an audit by the German pension insurance is coming up.
What matters now
- What counts is not the label in the contract but how the cooperation is actually lived: instructions, integration, own entrepreneurial risk.
- If employment is found, social security contributions for several years may have to be paid retroactively, largely by the client, and in the worst case there are criminal consequences.
- A status determination procedure creates clarity, but it is also binding.
- Contracts and actual practice belong on the test bench together; often the cooperation can be structured with legal certainty.
- Rights in work results, such as software, should be regulated at the same time.
Documents I need
- the contracts with the freelancers
- invoices and details of the scope and duration of the work
- a description of how the cooperation works day to day
- letters from the pension insurance, if any
Next steps
Send me the documents by email to kanzlei@bauer.legal or use the appointment request, and mention any deadline that is running. I usually reply within one working day and let you know how things can proceed. You can write to me in English or German. How we work together and how fees are charged is explained under How we work together.
More: Employment law.
This page gives a general overview of German law and does not replace advice on the individual case.