Hiring a Minijobber in a German GmbH or UG 2026: Employer's Setup Guide

What counts as a minijob in your GmbH in 2026?

A minijob (geringfügige Beschäftigung) is a part-time job in Germany capped at €556 per month in 2026. The cap moves with the statutory minimum wage of €12.82/hour — when minimum wage rises, the cap rises automatically. That means a maximum of about 43 working hours per month per minijobber.

For a GmbH or UG, minijobs are convenient: you pay flat-rate contributions instead of running full payroll, your employee takes home almost the full amount, and as managing director you have less paperwork.

Geringfügig or kurzfristig — which type fits?

Two minijob types exist:

• Geringfügig entlohnt (low-wage): up to €556 per month, no time limit

• Kurzfristig (short-term): max 3 months or 70 working days per calendar year, no earnings cap

For ongoing help (a 10-hour-a-week back-office assistant), use the low-wage minijob. For seasonal or project work, use short-term employment.

Employer requirements before you can hire

Before signing on a minijobber, you'll need:

• An employer ID number (Betriebsnummer) from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (free, online at arbeitsagentur.de)

• A written employment contract with hours, pay, and duties

• The employee's social security card and tax ID (Steuer-ID)

• A SEPA direct debit mandate for the flat-rate contributions

For new GmbHs, request the Betriebsnummer right after your entry in the commercial register.

Register the minijob with Minijob-Zentrale — step by step

Registration runs entirely through Minijob-Zentrale (a unit of Knappschaft Bahn-See):

1. Open an employer account at minijob-zentrale.de

2. Submit a SEPA direct debit authorization

3. Register the employee no later than 6 weeks after start — ideally on day one

4. Choose your wage tax model: 2 % flat tax or individual taxation via tax class

5. File the monthly contribution report and let the SEPA debit run — the wage tax filing under the flat-rate model goes through the Minijob-Zentrale directly

Registration is free and takes under 10 minutes if your data is ready.

What does a minijob cost a GmbH in 2026?

For a full €556 minijob you owe these flat-rate employer contributions:

• Health insurance: 13 %

• Pension insurance: 15 %

• Flat wage tax (optional): 2 %

• Reimbursement levies U1, U2 and the insolvency fund U3: about 1.7 % combined

• Accident insurance: varies by Berufsgenossenschaft

In total, a maxed-out €556 minijob costs your GmbH roughly €720 per month. Unlike a regular hire, you don't pay unemployment or care insurance contributions. Every flat contribution is fully deductible as a business expense.

Bookkeeping: accounts and postings

In SKR04 you book the minijob to two accounts: 4140 "Löhne für Minijobber" for gross wages, and 4150 "Pauschale Abgaben für Minijobber" for the contributions to Minijob-Zentrale. In SKR03 those are accounts 4110 and 4118.

Important: a GmbH does not file the flat 2 % wage tax through the regular Lohnsteueranmeldung — everything runs through the Minijob-Zentrale directly, removing one filing step from your monthly process.

Common mistakes with minijobs in a GmbH

• Wage too high — the €556 cap is strict; one cent over breaks the minijob status

• Multiple unreported minijobs — the employee must disclose every running minijob, or pension insurance kicks in

• Missing contract — a written employment contract is mandatory, or you risk problems similar to false self-employment

• Sub-minimum wage — €12.82/hour is the floor, no exceptions

• Director-shareholder as minijobber — a GmbH managing director who is also a shareholder cannot register himself as a minijobber; the tax office treats this as misuse

Conclusion

A minijob is the simplest way to hire in your GmbH or UG — flat contributions instead of full payroll, fast registration, predictable cost. Watch the €556 cap, register on time with the Minijob-Zentrale, and book the contributions cleanly.

Norman recognises minijob debits automatically when you import bank transactions and posts them to the correct account. You enter the hours once a month and the AI bookkeeping does the rest — letting you stay compliant without an external payroll office.