Company number; application
As an employer, you must register your employees for social insurance. To do this, you need a company number.
Description
As soon as you employ the first person who is subject to compulsory insurance, you must apply for a company number for the company where the person is employed.
The company number is usually assigned by the Federal Employment Agency upon electronic application. A customer data record is created for you in which your company master data is registered. Based on the company number, the social insurance agencies can then assign the notifications to the health, pension and unemployment insurance to your employment company.
One or more company numbers?
- If you are an employer of a company with only one location, you only need one company number.
- You will need several establishment numbers if you have establishments in several municipalities.
- You also need several company numbers if you are the owner of several companies in the same municipality, each of which is an independent economic unit.
Headquarters abroad
If you are an employer based abroad, you may need a company number - if you have to report workers employed in Germany to the German social security system. This could be, for example, sales employees or customer service representatives working in a home office.
Special rules for private households, miners and maritime companies
- You want to employ someone in your private household on a marginal scale (mini-job): Please contact the Minijob-Zentrale of the German Pension Insurance Knappschaft-Bahn-See.
- You are a miners' company (extraction of minerals, e.g. coal), you employ staff in a miners' company or you employ workers who perform miners' work in mines or who are deployed for rehabilitation work in opencast mines: Please contact the German Pension Insurance Knappschaft-Bahn-See.
- You are a maritime worker (including coastal fishermen and coastal skippers): Please contact the German Pension Insurance Knappschaft-Bahn-See.
Prerequisites
You hire an employee subject to compulsory insurance for the first time in the relevant company of employment.
Procedure
Please apply for your company number electronically. You can submit the application yourself or commission someone else to do so, for example a tax consultant.
- Call up the online application on the website of the Federal Employment Agency.
- Answer the initial questions in the selection fields and follow the online form through the rest of the application process.
- In most cases, the company number will be assigned and displayed immediately.
- In addition, the employer will receive a postal confirmation of the establishment number and master data stored.
Note: If there are changes in the master data or if the business closes, you must notify the Federal Employment Agency electronically without delay. Your payroll accounting software usually automatically triggers a relevant notification to the Federal Employment Agency as soon as you enter the relevant changes in the master data there.
Special notes
Please always use the company number of the company in which the employee is actually working in the social insurance reports. If there are any changes to the master company data provided when the application was submitted, please send the correct information to the Federal Employment Agency electronically without delay. Incorrect use of the company number or late notification or failure to notify changes may constitute an administrative offense.
Deadlines
As a rule: As an employer, you must report employment subject to compulsory insurance within 6 weeks of commencement. At the latest then you need a company number.
Processing time
In most cases, the company number is displayed immediately when you apply electronically.
Required documents
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Required Documents
You must provide the following minimum information:
- the name used by the employment business in legal transactions, including any additions to the legal form,
- sole proprietorship / civil law partnership: the first name and surname of the proprietor or partners,
- sole proprietorship not entered in the Commercial Register: first and last name of the employer,
- private household: first name and surname of the head of the household,
- the employment address, i.e. the current address of the place of employment where the employees actually work,
- if necessary, a different address to be used for mail delivery,
- additional communication channels such as telephone number, fax or e-mail address,
- economic focus of the company of employment,
- contact person (name, function, telephone number) for queries regarding the registration procedure - this can also be contact details of a commissioned service provider, for example a tax consultancy,
- if another company within the company registers employees for social insurance: the name, address and company number of this office.
As a rule, however, the company number service of the Federal Employment Agency does not require any written evidence in order to process your application.
Links to more information
Status: 12.04.2023
Responsible for editing: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales
- Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
- Online transactions, locally limited
- Form, Bavaria-wide
- Form, locally limited
- Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, locally limited
- Fees, Bavaria-wide
- Fees, locally limited
If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.