Freelance or company?
Compare an Einzelunternehmen, qualifying Freiberufler status, a Direct GmbH, and a Holding with the same profit, spending, and investment assumptions.
Lifetime structure calculator
Change an assumption to recalculate all four paths. Values are real 2026 euros.
Free educational tool. No warranty. This is not legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Use it at your own risk and consult a qualified lawyer or tax adviser before acting.
Results
| Structure | Gross wealth at retirement | Private-equivalent wealth | Annual retirement spending | Monthly retirement spending | Explicit tax before retirement | Administration before retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Einzelunternehmen | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| Freiberufler | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| Direct GmbH | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| Holding and OpCo | … | … | … | … | … | … |
Gross wealth by age
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to compare one year.
- Einzelunternehmen
- Freiberufler
- Direct GmbH
- Holding and OpCo
Retirement drawdown by age
Each line shows private and corporate ETF wealth remaining after that year's modeled withdrawals, ETF tax, shareholder tax, administration, and any first-year wind-down cost.
- Einzelunternehmen
- Freiberufler
- Direct GmbH
- Holding and OpCo
Model facts, boundaries, and references
This calculator runs in your browser. It sends no financial inputs to a server and uses no analytics.
This calculator is free to use and provided as-is, without warranties of any kind. It is intended solely for general educational purposes. It does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice, and you use it and its results at your own risk. It does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer or tax adviser.
How money leaves a company
Personal-business paths sell private ETF shares, so only investor tax applies. Company paths must pay corporate ETF tax, annual administration, and any first-year wind-down cost inside the company before a gross dividend is declared. The shareholder then pays either the §32d(1) EStG flat tax of 25 percent plus solidarity surcharge, reduced by the §20(9) EStG Sparer-Pauschbetrag, or the Teileinkünfteverfahren on application under §32d(2) Nr. 3 EStG.
What the Teileinkünfteverfahren does here
Under §3 Nr. 40 d EStG, 40 percent of the dividend stays exempt and 60 percent enters the §32a EStG tariff with other taxable income, plus solidarity surcharge. The Sparer-Pauschbetrag does not apply. The application requires at least 25 percent ownership, or at least 1 percent combined with professional activity that gives significant entrepreneurial influence. It binds for the following four assessment periods, and after revocation the same participation can never opt in again.
The model compares one constant real dividend per year and reports the cheaper of both methods when the application is available. It does not model the five-year binding period, revocation timing, §3c(2) EStG expense treatment at 60 percent, church tax, capital-gains withholding mechanics, a liquidation instead of dividends, or a repayment of capital contributions under §27 KStG. Those routes can change the answer and belong in a conversation with a tax adviser.
Read the boundary before the ranking
The model compares structures under one tax and investment policy. It does not decide whether an activity qualifies as Freiberufler, model §34a EStG, health insurance, church tax, restructuring, emigration, succession, or legal liability. Review an actual decision with a German tax adviser.
The optional EXIT is an illustration, not a complete sale calculation. It assumes an eligible share sale with zero tax basis and no sale costs. Direct ownership uses a simplified incremental TEV calculation. The Holding uses the modeled §8b 5% taxable share. Consulting cash flow continues after the event, and the personal-business paths receive no sale proceeds.
2026.09-payout-tax.1
What the calculator compares
A legal form changes where money sits, when tax becomes due, what remains exposed to operating risk, and how much administration follows you into a weak year. It does not change the underlying work.
The calculator compares four ways of carrying the same economic business profit through a working life:
- An Einzelunternehmen subject to Gewerbesteuer.
- A qualifying Freiberufler activity without Gewerbesteuer.
- A directly owned GmbH.
- A Holding with an operative GmbH.
The shared starting point matters. Revenue from one structure cannot be compared with post-salary company profit from another. Every path below starts with the same profit before owner pay, structure taxes, and administration.
Terms of use and professional advice
This calculator is free to use. It is provided as-is, without warranties of any kind. It is intended solely for general educational purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. You use the tool and its results at your own risk.
German tax and legal outcomes depend on circumstances that a browser form cannot establish. The calculator does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer or tax adviser. Use it to identify sensitive assumptions and prepare questions for those professionals.
What the result measures
The calculator keeps private and corporate ETF assets separate. Company assets remain company assets until a modeled distribution makes them privately available. The result table therefore reports both gross wealth and private-equivalent wealth after the modeled shareholder payout burden.
Retirement spending comes from a year-by-year sale simulation rather than a fixed withdrawal percentage. The simulation tracks ETF market value, a weighted-average tax basis, Vorabpauschale, realized gains, company administration, and shareholder tax. It searches for the constant real annual amount that reaches the terminal age without an unfunded withdrawal.
Each structure has its own retirement path. The personal-business cases sell private ETF shares for spendable cash. The company cases amortize private and corporate portfolios separately. Corporate sales must also fund annual company administration and any first-year wind-down cost before a gross dividend reaches the shareholder. The model then applies the configured shareholder tax and reports the remaining net annual and monthly spending. The retirement drawdown chart exposes the yearly balances through the terminal age.
All cash flows use real 2026 euros. The model applies the 2026 personal income-tax tariff throughout, while enacted corporate-tax reductions enter from 2028. This compares structures under a named rule set. It does not forecast German tax policy for the next sixty years.
How money leaves a company
A personal business sells private ETF shares and pays only investor tax. A company must first pay corporate ETF tax on its own sales, then annual administration and any first-year wind-down cost, before it declares a gross dividend. Only then does shareholder tax apply.
The shareholder layer offers two routes:
- §32d(1) EStG flat taxation at 25 percent plus solidarity surcharge, reduced by the §20(9) EStG Sparer-Pauschbetrag.
- The Teileinkünfteverfahren on application under §32d(2) Nr. 3 EStG.
Under the Teileinkünfteverfahren, §3 Nr. 40 d EStG leaves 40 percent of the dividend exempt. The remaining 60 percent enters the §32a EStG tariff together with other taxable income, plus solidarity surcharge, and the Sparer-Pauschbetrag no longer applies. The application requires at least 25 percent ownership, or at least 1 percent combined with professional activity that gives significant entrepreneurial influence. It binds for the following four assessment periods, and after a revocation the same participation can never opt in again.
The calculator exposes all three settings: Abgeltungsteuer, Teileinkünfteverfahren, and the lower of both. The last one is a planning bound, not a promise. It compares one constant real dividend per year and does not model the five-year binding period or revocation timing. It also excludes §3c(2) EStG expense treatment at 60 percent, church tax, withholding mechanics, a liquidation instead of dividends, and a repayment of capital contributions under §27 KStG. Those routes can change the ranking and belong in a conversation with a tax adviser.
How to use it
Start with annual economic profit and the amount you need privately. Those two values often explain more than a popular revenue threshold. Then change the managing-director salary and the annual cost of each company.
Watch for rankings that reverse after a small edit. A fragile lead is not a decision. It is a reason to verify fees, social-insurance status, private spending, and the expected holding period.
The share button places the visible assumptions in the URL. The calculation itself remains local to your browser. The site has no account, stores no financial scenario on a server, and sends no calculator events to an analytics service.
Model boundary
The current release reproduces the four pure-career paths in the source workbook. It does not yet reproduce its year-by-year legal-form switching or historical calibration path.
The optional EXIT compares the wrapper treatment of one fictional eligible share sale. It is disabled by default. The Direct path applies a simplified incremental Teileinkünfteverfahren calculation under §17 EStG. The Holding applies the modeled 5 percent taxable share under §8b KStG. Both assume zero tax basis and no sale costs. Consulting income continues afterward, so the event does not represent a full company sale or wind-down.
The model excludes §34a EStG retained-profit relief, exact health and social-insurance treatment, church tax, spouse splitting, children, statutory pension taxation, loss carryforwards, formation and restructuring, a complete company sale, emigration, succession, and exact broker tax lots. It assumes a fully accumulating qualifying Aktienfonds and uses a disclosed weighted-average basis.
A Holding also has benefits that this table does not price. Separating accumulated assets from operating claims can matter. So can owning several companies or preparing for a qualifying sale. A Holding cannot make an owner-dependent consulting business saleable, and its second set of accounts remains payable when profits disappoint.
Rule sources
The calculation uses primary German sources for the material tax mechanics:
- §32a EStG for the 2026 income-tax tariff.
- §35 EStG for the Gewerbesteuer credit.
- §32d EStG for the flat capital-income tariff and the Teileinkünfteverfahren application.
- §3 Nr. 40 EStG for the 40 percent dividend exemption.
- §3 SolzG for the solidarity-surcharge assessment base.
- §11 GewStG for the allowance and tax assessment rate.
- §23 KStG for the enacted corporate-tax schedule.
- §17 EStG for substantial privately held share disposals.
- §8b KStG and §9 GewStG for participation treatment.
- §§18 to 20 InvStG for Vorabpauschale, realization, and Aktienfonds exemptions.
- The BMF notice for the 2026 Basiszins.
Model version 2026.09-payout-tax.1 ports the supplied German_Lifetime_Tax_Structure_Model.xlsx, exposes each structure’s year-by-year retirement drawdown and its retirement tax layers, makes the shareholder payout method selectable, adds the disclosed fictional EXIT scenario, and corrects the personal-business solidarity surcharge. The workbook reduced the surcharge base by the §35 EStG trade-tax credit. Under §3(2) SolzG, that credit does not reduce the assessment base. Automated tests pin the corrected default outputs.