Posting workers to Germany: what has to be done before day one.

Not every one. The notification duty under § 16 MiLoG applies to the sectors listed in § 2a SchwarzArbG — among them construction, hospitality and accommodation, passenger transport, freight and logistics, travelling showpeople, building cleaning, exhibition construction, the meat industry and security services.

§ 18 AEntG adds the sectors with a generally binding sector minimum wage. Anyone working outside those areas does not notify — the other obligations, such as the A1 and the wage tax, are unaffected.

We check this for your assignment and make the notification where one is required.

Before every contract for work or services begins, irrespective of how long it lasts. A one-day assignment has to be notified just as a year-long project does.

Where the notified details change, that has to be reported without delay.

We handle the notification through the minimum wage reporting portal and the follow-up reports. For that we need names, place of work, period, sector and the customer.

The posting state, not Germany. Where the German company posts its own staff, the certificate comes from Germany; where the foreign parent posts them, it comes from there. Employers in France apply through the URSSAF online service.

It is the evidence that the social security law of the posting state continues to apply during the assignment — and it is among the documents produced during an inspection by the customs enforcement unit.

We make the application for you — on either side. Because we are active in Germany and in France, you do not have to bring anyone else in for one side or the other.

Under social security law it should not exceed 24 months (Art. 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004).

Beyond that an exceptional agreement under Art. 16 of the Regulation is possible; it requires the consent of the competent bodies in both states and has to be applied for in advance.

We make that application — and because it needs the consent of both states, it helps that we are active in both. All that matters is that we hear about it in time: the gap cannot be closed after the event.

Yes. For work performed in Germany the statutory minimum wage applies — 13.90 euros per hour worked since 1 January 2026, and 14.60 euros from 1 January 2027.

In sectors with a generally binding collective agreement the sector minimum wage may be higher; that one then applies.

Under § 1 MiLoDokV, for employees whose regular monthly pay exceeds 4,461 euros gross.

The same relief applies from 2,974 euros where the employer can show that this pay was made for the last full twelve months. The documents evidencing that have to be held in Germany and in German.

We check the thresholds for each employee and keep the evidence available in Germany.

That turns not on the length of the posting but on who bears the cost of the wages economically. Under § 38 Abs. 1 Satz 2 EStG the receiving German company counts as a domestic employer where it bears that cost — even if it makes no payment itself.

The 183-day rule in treaty law then does not apply, because it presupposes that the remuneration is precisely not borne by an employer resident in the state where the work is done. Independently of that, a domestic permanent establishment can trigger the deduction — see the home office as a permanent establishment.

We settle this question in advance and set up the German payroll as soon as the deduction applies here — including the registration and the payroll account.

Yes. § 13 MiLoG applies § 14 AEntG accordingly: anyone commissioning another business to carry out work or services is liable for that business's minimum wage obligations as a guarantor who has waived the defence of failure to pursue the principal debtor.

On top of that comes the fine under § 21 Abs. 2 MiLoG where the customer knows of the breach or negligently fails to know of it — with a range up to 500,000 euros.

On the running payroll for posted staff: German Payroll & HR.