Accountants and corporate service providers in Berlin

Services Berlin firms offer

Accounting is offered by 43 Berlin firms and tax compliance by 42. Payroll (33) and VAT (32) follow closely, 23 handle company formation and 19 offer audit. Five Berlin firms help with residence and work permits, out of eight in Germany on Accountanty, which makes the capital the place to look if a permit and a company have to be arranged together. Four assist with a business bank account, four provide a virtual office and three act as company secretary.

If you are moving to Berlin to run the company yourself, ask a permit firm whether its quote covers preparing the application only or also guiding you through it. The residency and visas page shows every firm in Germany that lists this work.

Company forms named in Berlin

The GmbH is the structure Berlin firms name most, ten times. Branches, holding companies and subsidiaries follow with five mentions each, a spread that suits a foreign parent still deciding how to enter the German market. The AG and the UG are each named by four firms, and so are the GbR partnership and the sole proprietorship, which appears another four times as a Gewerbe. The OHG, the KG and the GmbH & Co. KG are named three times each.

A freelancer and a corporate group can use the same Berlin list, but should read it differently. A sole trader needs an adviser who handles the trade registration and the personal return; a group needs one who can coordinate with the parent’s auditors and reporting calendar.

Industries and client groups in Berlin

Real estate is named by 16 Berlin firms, more than any other sector. Start-ups come next with 13 mentions under two spellings, then construction and e-commerce with six each and healthcare with five. Non-profit work is named six times and manufacturing four times, the public sector and crypto three times each, and private equity, family offices, SaaS and banking and financial services twice each. If you run a software or crypto business, ask how many clients a firm already has in that field before you compare fees.

Freelancers are the client group named most, by eight Berlin firms, followed by private individuals with six and start-ups with five. Expats appear seven times across two wordings. Three firms each mention internationally active companies and Chinese companies. A Polish thread runs through the list: three firms name Polish companies in Germany, two name Polish entrepreneurs, and seven Berlin firms work in Polish. Across the Berlin list, 41 of the 47 firms describe a focus on foreign clients.

Languages and credentials in Berlin

Forty-five Berlin firms work in German and 38 in English. After Polish, Turkish and Russian are offered by four firms each, Ukrainian and French by two. Single firms work in Romanian, Arabic, Japanese, Vietnamese and Italian, and one lists Chinese with both Mandarin and Cantonese. Ask whether the language you need is spoken by the person who will handle your file, not only at the first meeting.

Most declared credentials refer to the German professional chambers. Many Berlin firms describe themselves as a Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, a registered tax advisory company, and one names the Steuerberaterkammer Berlin as its chamber. Several are Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften, audit firms registered with the Wirtschaftsprüferkammer, which matters if your company has to be audited. Thirteen firms state a founding year: the oldest dates from 1920 and the median from 2002. Only two publish prices.

Choosing an accountant in Berlin

With 47 firms to compare, start with the structure, then sort by language and by size. A small practice usually gives you direct access to the adviser, while a network office can align reporting with your group. Agree in writing who files the annual accounts and who answers questions from the tax office. The other German city pages cover Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, and the Germany page explains the legal steps and lists firms in smaller towns. Send one quote request to reach several Berlin firms at once.