Freelance rate for chefs and servers: what should you charge?
German rules, for people working in Germany. The example needs €26.16 per hour before VAT. Your rate depends on billable time, insurance and business costs.
Example using the displayed inputs
Model calculation for Germany, subject to the assumptions below.
- Annual employee gross pay
- €31,200.00
- Employee health-insurance contribution
- €2,730.00
- Employee care-insurance contribution
- €561.60
- Employee pension contribution
- €2,901.60
- Employee unemployment-insurance contribution
- €405.60
- Comparison after contributions, before income tax
- €24,601.20
- Required profit in the annual model
- €40,798.01
- Self-employed health insurance in the model
- €7,139.65
- Self-employed care insurance in the model
- €1,468.73
- Planned retirement savings in the model
- €7,588.43
- Required turnover before VAT
- €40,798.01
- Billable days
- 195
- Billable hours
- 1,560
- Hourly rate before VAT, rounded up
- €26.16
- Invoice amount for the chosen hours, before VAT
- €209.28
- Hourly rate under the selected VAT scenario
- €31.13
- Both scenarios are calculated before income tax.
- Trade tax is not included. Profit and taxable trade income differ.
- Without business costs your rate is too low. Consider clothing, travel, insurance and accounting.
How the comparison works
Annual employee gross pay is reduced by separately rounded employee insurance contributions. The model then finds the lowest profit in cents that leaves the same amount after modelled self-employed health insurance, care insurance and retirement savings. Both scenarios are before income tax.
Required turnover is profit plus business costs. Billable days exclude leave, holidays, sickness and unassigned days. The hourly rate is rounded up; the daily rate uses your selected assignment-day hours. These annual contributions are not an insurer's monthly bill.
Annual planning assumes weekly hours divided by working days per week. The separate day-hours field only converts the hourly rate into an invoice amount for that many hours. Entering four hours there halves that invoice amount, not the annual hours required. If you plan fewer billable weekly hours, this comparison using equal weekly hours is not suitable.
Is this take-home pay?
No. Income tax is not calculated. Trade tax, voluntary unemployment insurance and individual compulsory pension rules also need separate assessment.
Who can use the comparison?
It is limited to normal insured employment above €2,000 per month, outside Saxony, without reductions for multiple children, other assessable income or mid-year status changes, and with age at least 23 throughout the year. Full 2027 contribution values are not available in this version.
Does the result establish self-employed status?
No. Whether you are self-employed or an employee depends on the overall picture, especially whether you work under instructions and are integrated into the business's work organisation (German § 7(1) SGB IV). If in doubt, the parties can apply to Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund for a status determination (§ 7a SGB IV). Compulsory pension insurance for self-employed people is not assessed either. It can apply, for example, if you work permanently and mainly for only one client and employ no staff subject to compulsory insurance (§ 2 sentence 1 no. 9 SGB VI).
Can I invoice without VAT?
The § 19 choice is a scenario only if the German small-business exemption actually applies. Prior-year turnover, new-business rules, waiver and other requirements are not assessed. Include liability insurance, clothing, tools, travel, telephone and accounting in business costs; zero costs underestimate the required rate.
Sources and review date
Sources reviewed: 20 October 2026; incomplete full-text checks are marked.
- § 1 MiLoV5: minimum wage from 1 Jan 2026 (J01) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 241 SGB V: health insurance contribution rate (J06) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- Federal Ministry of Health: average additional contribution 2026 (J07) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 55 SGB XI: long-term care contribution rate (J08) · 2025-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 158 SGB VI: pension insurance contribution rate (J09) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 341 SGB III: unemployment insurance contribution rate (J10) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- SVBezGrV 2026: contribution ceilings, reference amount (J11) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 240(4) SGB V: minimum assessment base (J12) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 12 UStG: VAT rates (J17) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 19 UStG: small business rule (J18) · 2025-01-01 · 2026-10-20
- § 11 GewStG: trade tax allowance (J19) · 2026-01-01 · 2026-10-20
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General information, not tax or legal advice and not a payroll calculation. We calculate carefully using the stated German rules, but we cannot rule out errors. Your case may differ. Ask your payroll office, a tax adviser or your health insurer. Your entries stay in your browser; we do not store or send them.
Drafted with AI assistance.