Selling a product over personal website

So if you had an idea for a product that you wanted to sell over the internet and created a site for it with paypal and stuff, who legally do you have to inform in terms of what kind of business you have, tax and other stuff?

The Finanzamt. But it depends if you are currently employed, freelance etc etc. They'll tell you.

I dunno but in the UK paypal have to inform the financial services regulator to make sure you aint money laundering and stuff.

I think they hit me after I was pulling in about £600 profit a week for 18 months (part time )

Yet, another reason not to use paypal...

There are a few things to be concerned about, but nothing heavy if you are only a micro-trader. Any internet site, for sales or otherwise, falls under the "Teledienstegesetz" and is therefore required to include an "Impressum" indicating responsibilities, contact addresses, and if remotely for business purposes tax details. This includes non-German sites offering services into Germany. As a business yourself, there is no requirement to formally register if you have an ad-hoc turnover below a limit of €6000 per year, and, of course any gross profit is declared for the consideration of taxation. If your turnover exceeds this, or becomes formalised in a business sense then you need advise the Finanzamt and in most cases need to register a "Gewerbe" with your local council (Rathaus). Doing this will also require additional paperwork and liability for Gewerbesteuer according to your profit. If your turnover exceeds €17500 you will also need to register for, record and account for VAT (Umsatzsteuer) on income and outgoings. From here on it gets much more complicated.

And make sure you're not infringing on anyone's copyright.

I know someone who made a little online store after she gave a couple a t-shirt for their newborn saying "Made with Love", and everyone loved it. The store was not even a serious business endeavor, and some lawyer ended up sending her a letter because someone in Austria had copyrighted that phrase (on baby products), and she had to pay a few hundred Euros even though she never even told anything.

I am at the moment employed but am still registered with the Finanzamt as Freiberuflich from the days when I did freelance English teaching (have still got to do a tax form for six months of that teaching from last year). Would this make a difference in terms of being a business and stuff? Am I already a business as such?


What do you mean they hit you? What happened and what did they do and who is they?