The procedures under the Recognition Act are generally subject to fees.
The fees are based on the fee legislation of the competent authority and depend on the individual effort required to carry out the procedure.
Since the proceedings are official acts of the Free State of Bavaria (including the chambers), the specific fees are regulated in the fee/cost laws of the Free State of Bavaria or the fee schedules of the chambers.
The costs are to be borne by the applicant, unless they are borne by other bodies. In principle, the costs incurred in connection with the determination of equivalence can also be borne by the employment agencies or job centres. Prior clarification is recommended.
Fees can be demanded retrospectively, after the end of the procedure or as an advance at the beginning of the procedure. The possibility of advance payments is provided for in the law on administrative costs (Art. 14 Kostengesetz). In these cases, the commencement of proceedings can be made dependent on receipt of payment. This is to be expected especially in the case of applications from abroad.
In principle, it is possible to claim the fees as business expenses/advertising costs for tax purposes, as they are directly economically related to the desired income. However, this only has an effect if corresponding income is available for offsetting in the future.
The self-paid recognition costs can, under certain circumstances, also be claimed as anticipated income-related expenses/business expenses from the tax office, so that a notice of loss is issued for this year. In later years, when income is generated, this loss can be claimed as a tax-reducing loss carried forward.
In Bavaria, fees are set according to the expenditure incurred by the authorities. In addition, there are the expenses incurred by the authorities. As these depend on the individual case, it is not possible to make a general statement on how much you will pay for the recognition procedure. The fees range from five to twenty-five thousand euros. Often the fees are less than 1,000 euros.
You can achieve low fees by presenting the certificates and diplomas of your educational and professional background. The competent authorities can then check your professional career on the basis of these documents.
Expenses may be incurred, for example, if the competent body has to have translations done or is carrying out an examination.
Before you go through the recognition procedure, please talk or phone the competent body about the fees and expenses you can expect to incur.
Information on the recognition grant can be found here.
