Legal notice and mandatory details for bookkeeping offices in Germany: fewer chamber details, more clarity on scope

Why a bookkeeper's legal notice looks different

In Germany, self-employed bookkeepers do not work in a chamber profession, but within an exception to the reservation of tax advice for tax advisers: § 6 (1) no. 1 StBerG (Tax Advisers Act) permits setting up charts of accounts, posting ongoing business transactions, running ongoing payroll and preparing the monthly wage tax return (Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung). There is no licensing procedure, no professional code and no official professional register.

For the legal notice, this means two things. The details that § 5 DDG links to an official licence or to regulated professions largely drop out. At the same time, competition law demands more clarity from you than from other businesses, because your service resembles an activity reserved for tax advisers. The case law on this is strict, and the chambers of tax advisers enforce it.

The mandatory details under § 5 DDG

In May 2024, the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz replaced the Telemediengesetz (Telemedia Act); little has changed in substance for the legal notice. The details must be easy to recognise, directly accessible and permanently available, in practice through a “Legal notice” link on every page.

Supervisory authority, chamber and professional title

If you hold the IHK qualification, it is best to state it in full with the awarding body, for example “Geprüfte Bilanzbuchhalterin (IHK Nürnberg für Mittelfranken), verliehen in Deutschland” (awarded in Germany). That also covers the requirements in case someone does classify the activity as a regulated profession. Never use designations that sound like tax advice. “Steuerberater:in” and “Steuerbevollmächtigte:r” are protected under criminal law (§ 132a StGB, Criminal Code).

The scope of work: the most important detail

In 2015, the Federal Court of Justice ruled on a bookkeeping office that described itself as a “Mobiler Buchhaltungsservice i.S. § 6 StBerG” (mobile bookkeeping service within the meaning of § 6 StBerG) (judgment of 25 June 2015, I ZR 145/14; the claimant was a chamber of tax advisers). The designation “Buchhalter” or “Buchhaltungsservice” was in principle permissible, the court said. But if it gave the impression that the office offered the entire range of bookkeeping, that impression had to be dispelled, and a mere reference to a section of the statute was not enough. Hardly any layperson knows what § 6 StBerG says. The ruling was based on the earlier version of the StBerG; today § 8 (4) StBerG only requires bookkeepers not to breach the UWG when advertising. The core of the ruling, no misleading impression about the scope of services, therefore still follows from competition law.

For your website, this means: describe the scope in plain words, and do so where your designation or your services appear, not only in the legal notice. A proven solution is an asterisk on the business name or the services overview, with a clearly readable footnote on the same page. The legal notice repeats the note.

Check your other materials too: letterhead, business card, email signature and platform profiles should contain the same clarification or refer to the website. How to word your services and designations overall is explained in the article on advertising as a bookkeeper.

Insurance, consumer arbitration and blog

Besides the DDG, there are three provisions that come into play depending on how your office is set up:

• Dienstleistungs-Informationspflichten-Verordnung (DL-InfoV, Services Information Ordinance), § 2: before a contract is concluded, service providers must make certain information available, which can also be done via the website. If you have professional indemnity insurance, this includes the insurer's name and address and the territorial scope. Insurance is voluntary for bookkeepers; if you have it, stating it is mandatory.
• Verbraucherstreitbeilegungsgesetz (VSBG, Consumer Dispute Resolution Act), § 36: the statement on taking part in arbitration only concerns businesses that also conclude contracts with consumers, and it does not apply if you employed ten or fewer people on 31 December of the previous year. If you work exclusively for businesses, you do not need it.
• Medienstaatsvertrag (MStV, Interstate Media Treaty), § 18 (2): if you publish journalistic or editorial content, such as a blog with articles on payroll, name a responsible person with name and address.

You can delete the link to the EU online dispute resolution platform that many legal notices still contain: the platform was switched off on 20 July 2025.

Data protection and cookies

Payroll records contain tax IDs, social security numbers, bank details and sometimes information on religious affiliation (for church tax). Bookkeepers do not have a statutory duty of secrecy like tax advisers, but they do have contractual confidentiality and the obligations under the GDPR. Your website should reflect that care.

• Privacy policy under Art. 13 GDPR, matching the services you actually use (hosting, form, online booking, maps).
• Contact form only over TLS, with a note not to send payroll or bank data; for documents, an upload portal from your accounting software.
• Data processing agreements under Art. 28 GDPR with your hosting and form providers.
• Cookies and third-party content such as analytics tools or embedded maps only with consent (§ 25 TDDDG). Strictly necessary cookies are exempt; visitor statistics without cookies often spare you the banner altogether.

Accessibility under the BFSG

Since 28 June 2025, the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG, Accessibility Strengthening Act) has applied to e-commerce services aimed at consumers with a view to concluding a contract. A website that presents your office and receives enquiries from businesses is generally not covered. Microenterprises with fewer than ten employees and no more than 2 million euros in turnover or balance sheet total are expressly exempt as service providers (§ 3 (3) BFSG). A readable website that can be used with a keyboard is still a mark of quality.

Sample legal notice for a bookkeeping office (fictitious)

• Impressum (Angaben gemäß § 5 DDG)
• Buchhaltungsbüro Jana Vogt, Inhaberin: Jana Vogt, Geprüfte Bilanzbuchhalterin*
• Musterweg 3, 90402 Nürnberg · Telefon 0911 000000 · kontakt@vogt-beispiel.de
• USt-IdNr.: DE000000000
• * Abschlussbezeichnung verliehen von der IHK Nürnberg für Mittelfranken, Deutschland. Tätigkeitsumfang gemäß § 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 StBerG: Anlegen von Kontenplänen, Buchen laufender Geschäftsvorfälle, laufende Lohnabrechnung, Fertigen der Lohnsteuer-Anmeldungen. Keine Steuerberatung, keine Umsatzsteuervoranmeldungen, keine Jahresabschlüsse, keine Steuererklärungen.
• Berufshaftpflichtversicherung (freiwillig): [Versicherer, Anschrift], räumlicher Geltungsbereich: Deutschland
• Verantwortlich für redaktionelle Inhalte nach § 18 Abs. 2 MStV: Jana Vogt, Anschrift wie oben

What belongs on a convincing firm website besides the legal notice is covered in the article Website content. Questions on setting up, from registering your trade to the IHK, are dealt with in Self-employed as a bookkeeper.