How Steuerberater fees work in Germany

A Steuerberater's fees are governed by a federal ordinance, the Steuerberatervergütungsverordnung (StBVV). For most work it sets a frame, not a price: a fraction of a table fee that rises with the figures involved, such as your turnover or income. Where the ordinance says so, the advisor charges by time instead: €16.50 to €41 per started quarter hour since 1 July 2025. Advisor and client can agree something else, flat or hourly, higher or lower, but only in text form. VAT comes on top, and the part of the bill that concerns your business is a business expense.

1. The fee ordinance and the 2025 reform

The StBVV applies to Steuerberater, Steuerbevollmächtigte and their firms based in Germany. Its amounts apply unless something else is agreed (§ 1 StBVV). So it is both the default bill and the yardstick any agreement is measured against.

The last big reform took effect on 1 July 2025 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 105). It brought new fee tables, raised fixed amounts such as the payroll fees, switched the hourly rate to quarter hours, abolished the old flat-fee section (§ 14) and rewrote the rules on fee agreements. A smaller change on 1 January 2026 concerns charges for copies. Work commissioned before 1 July 2025 is billed under the old rules; under a written agreement running for at least a year, the old rules applied until the end of 2025 (§ 41 StBVV).

2. Table fees and fractions

Most fees are value-based (Wertgebühren). The ordinance has tables, A for advice and tax returns, B for annual accounts, C for bookkeeping, that give a "full fee" for each band of value (§ 10 StBVV). Each job has its own definition of that value (the Gegenstandswert) and its own range, in tenths of the full fee (Zehntelsätze).

Within the range, the advisor sets the fee "fairly" (billiges Ermessen), weighing how much work and how difficult it is, how much is at stake, the client's income and assets, and the liability risk (§ 11 StBVV). The jobs freelancers and small companies most often need:

One fixed limit matters to private clients: if you consult an advisor for the first time as a consumer, acting privately rather than for your business, and it stays at a first consultation, the fee for it is capped at €190 (§ 21(1) StBVV), with VAT on top.

3. One example, straight from the tables

To show the arithmetic, not anyone's price: take an EÜR with business receipts of €50,000, higher than the expenses. The value is therefore €50,000. Table B gives a full fee of €263 for values up to €50,000 (Anlage 2 StBVV). The EÜR range is 5/10 to 30/10, so the ordinance's frame runs from €131.50 to €789, before postage and VAT. The income tax return the EÜR feeds into is a separate fee.

That spread is the point. The ordinance tells you how a fee is built and where its limits are; it does not tell you what a particular advisor charges. Where a fee lands in the range depends on the § 11 factors, and an agreement can replace the frame altogether.

4. Fees by the hour

The time fee (Zeitgebühr) is €16.50 to €41 per started quarter hour, or €66 to €164 for a full hour. Until 30 June 2025 it was €30 to €75 per started half hour. It applies where the ordinance prescribes it, and where there is nothing to estimate a value from (§ 13 StBVV). The ordinance prescribes it for, among other things:

• setting up your bookkeeping and payroll (§ 32);
• preparatory work for an EÜR that goes well beyond the usual (§ 25(2));
• sorting out inventory records and other work before the annual accounts, up to a reconciled trial balance (§ 35(3));
• other work around bookkeeping and payroll (§§ 33(7), 34(5));
• attending a tax audit (§ 29).

This is where the state of your records shows up on a bill: a shoebox of unsorted receipts takes time, and under the ordinance time is charged by the quarter hour.

5. Agreeing a different fee, including flat fees

Advisor and client can agree a fee instead of the ordinance's frame, for example a monthly flat fee for ongoing work. The rules for any fee agreement (§ 4 StBVV):

• Text form. An email or PDF that names who is agreeing is enough (§ 126b BGB). It must be called a fee agreement (Vergütungsvereinbarung) or similar, be set apart from other terms except the engagement itself, sit outside the power of attorney, and describe the kind and scope of the work.
• A heads-up in writing. The advisor must tell you, in text form, that a higher or lower fee than the statutory one can be agreed.
• Lower is allowed outside court proceedings, if it stays proportionate to the work, the responsibility and the liability risk (§ 4a).
• Form missing? Then the advisor can claim no more than the statutory fee (§ 4b). But what you paid voluntarily and without reservation can't be reclaimed just because the form was wrong.
• Unreasonably high? A court can cut an agreed fee to a reasonable amount, though not below the statutory fee.

Flat fees. Until 30 June 2025 the ordinance had its own section for flat fees (§ 14). It was repealed, so a monthly or annual flat fee is now simply a fee agreement and follows the rules above. Check what it covers and what is billed on top.

Success fees, such as a share of a tax refund or saving, are generally not allowed. A narrow exception exists for a single case in which the client would otherwise, reasonably seen, be kept from pursuing their rights, with strict form rules (§ 9a StBerG). And no one may pay or receive part of the fees, or any other benefit, for passing on a client (§ 9 StBerG).

6. What drives the cost

Because every fee in the ordinance is tied to a figure, the ordinance itself shows what makes a bill bigger or smaller:

• Volume. Bookkeeping and EÜR fees rise with turnover or expenses; annual accounts with the balance sheet total and the year's output.
• Staff. Payroll is charged per employee and per payroll run.
• The number of returns. Monthly VAT returns instead of quarterly, trade tax, and for a GmbH or UG annual accounts and corporation tax on top of the shareholders' own returns. What a company files is in how a GmbH or UG is taxed.
• Who does the groundwork. The ordinance has lower ranges when you assign receipts to accounts yourself and the advisor books them (1/10 to 6/10 instead of 2/10 to 12/10), or when you enter the data in the advisor's software (§ 33(3), (4)); payroll works the same way (§ 34(3), (4)).
• The state of your records. Work beyond the usual is charged by time (section 4). What the law asks you to keep, and how, is in bookkeeping requirements in Germany.
• Disputes. Representing you in an objection (Einspruch) or before the tax court is billed under the lawyers' fee act, the RVG (§ 40 StBVV). More on objections in challenging a tax assessment.

7. The bill, advances and extras

• The bill. The advisor can only demand payment on a bill in text form that lists each fee with a short description, the section of the ordinance, the value for value-based fees, expenses and advances (§ 9 StBVV).
• When it is due. When the job is finished (§ 7). The advisor may ask for a reasonable advance (§ 8).
• Postage and phone. Actual costs, or a flat 20% of the fees, at most €20 per matter (§ 16).
• VAT at 19% on top (§ 15 StBVV, § 12(1) UStG), unless the advisor is a small business that charges none. If you are VAT-registered and entitled to deduct input tax, the VAT on an invoice for business work is generally reclaimable (§ 15(1) UStG). Whether you charge VAT at all is in the Kleinunternehmer guide.

8. Fees as a business expense

Since 2006, tax advice costs count for income tax only as business expenses (Betriebsausgaben) or employment expenses (Werbungskosten). The Federal Ministry of Finance draws the line in a letter of 21 December 2007, still in the official 2025 tax handbook:

Mixed costs are split by a reasonable estimate, and up to €100 a year the Finanzamt accepts your split. For a GmbH or UG it is simpler: its tax advice costs are business expenses in full. A bill under the ordinance lists each fee separately, which is what the split is based on.

9. What to ask before you sign, with an email to copy

• Which jobs are included: bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll, EÜR or annual accounts, which tax returns, letters from the Finanzamt?
• Do you bill under the StBVV or with a fee agreement? If an agreement, is it flat or hourly, and what falls outside it?
• How is extra work charged: catching up on past months, messy records, a tax audit, an objection?
• How do my receipts reach you, and who assigns them to accounts?
• How often do you invoice, do you ask for advances, and how are expenses charged?
• Who works on my file, and can we work in English?
• How do we end the arrangement, and how do my records come back to me?

The email below asks an advisor's office for exactly that, in German. Replace the parts in square brackets and delete the lines that don't apply.

Betreff: Anfrage Steuerberatung – [Ihr Name oder Firma]

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

ich bin [freiberuflich tätig / Gewerbetreibende(r) / Geschäftsführer(in) der … GmbH] in [Ort] und suche ab [Monat und Jahr] steuerliche Unterstützung für:

– [laufende Buchführung]
– [Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldungen]
– [Lohnabrechnung für … Mitarbeitende]
– [Einnahmenüberschussrechnung / Jahresabschluss]
– [Steuererklärungen für das Jahr …]

Eckdaten: Jahresumsatz ca. [Betrag] Euro, ca. [Anzahl] Belege im Monat, [Anzahl] Mitarbeitende.

Können Sie mir mitteilen, ob Sie das Mandat übernehmen können, ob Sie nach der Steuerberatervergütungsverordnung oder mit einer Vergütungsvereinbarung abrechnen und welche Leistungen darin enthalten wären? Wenn möglich, würde ich gern auf Englisch kommunizieren.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
[Ihr Name]
[Telefon, E-Mail]

Klarbooks does not set or negotiate any advisor's fees. Each advisor quotes their own, within the rules above.