The Principle · Germany

How quitt works in Germany

You enter what you already know: who's working, at what pay. quitt takes over the entire administration on your behalf.

Contents
Contents

quitt is the operator, not the tool

quitt is an app-based, automated service for payroll and employment administration of household employees in Germany: in the app, you enter only what you already know, and quitt carries out the entire administration on your behalf.

Starting point

quitt needs access to the SV-Meldeportal (social-security filing portal) to submit social-security filings on your behalf.

What it takes

Access is confirmed via the ITSG — with an activation code that, for system reasons, is sent once by post to your address.

Resolution

You enter the code in your customer account; this activates access, and quitt carries out the social-security filings.

quitt is the legal-operational layer between you as the employer and the institutions. You grant quitt a mandate, or power of attorney; quitt thereby becomes the operational interface towards authorities, social-insurance providers, employees and payments. The app is only the customer interface.

The value doesn't lie in quitt calculating payslips more easily. It lies in you delegating the entire operational responsibility for pay, authorities, insurance, payments, deadlines and documents to quitt — without giving up the employer role.

quitt receives a digital power of attorney from you to represent you towards authorities and other institutions: the responsible state accident insurance fund (Unfallkasse), the Federal Employment Agency, the tax office, the health insurer, ELSTER, the SV-Meldeportal, and the Minijob-Zentrale. quitt takes over all communication with every authority and receives the official mail.

With software, you are the operator. With quitt, quitt is the operator.

Brands in Germany

In Germany, the offering is called quitt — a Home offer for private households as employers. There's no Business offer in Germany.

quitt is suited to cleaners, nannies, carers and other household help. You'll find the names quitt carries in Switzerland and the United Kingdom further down.

What you do and what quitt does

This table describes the division of labour: you supply facts and make employer decisions; quitt carries out the administrative work on your behalf.

Area What you do What quitt does
Basic data Enter what you already know: who's working, at what pay, what workload.Validates, interprets and processes the data under the applicable rules.
Employer role Remain the legal employer, select employees, set pay, workload, place of work, duties and instructions.Doesn't take over the employer role, but the administrative execution on your behalf.
Mandate / power of attorney Grant quitt the power of attorney electronically.Represents you towards the institutions: the responsible state accident insurance fund, the Federal Employment Agency, the tax office, the health insurer, ELSTER, the SV-Meldeportal, the Minijob-Zentrale.
Registrations Don't need to work out yourself where a registration is required.Determines requirements, registers, and files changes.
Authorities & providers Don't need to work through authority and insurance processes yourself.Communicates, declares, answers queries, and obtains decisions.
Payroll Don't need to calculate pay yourself or monitor deadlines.Calculates pay, deductions and employer costs, and produces the payslips.
Payments Top up your quitt advance account in advance — recommended by the 15th of the month, for the full employer costs, calculated per contract and shown in your customer account.Pays the net salary, social-security contributions, income tax, and accident-insurance premiums from the advance — and, for Minijobs, the flat-rate tax too.
Replacement pay Enter sickness and absence days in your customer account, and report accidents and pregnancy to quitt.Reflects continued pay in the payroll, claims the reimbursements (U1/U2 levies), and shows everything in the statement.
Documents Use the documents provided, or use your own.Produces contracts, payslips and other employment-related documents.

Positioning in the market

Private employers in Germany have several ways open to them to run an employment. What matters in each is where the work and the responsibility lie.

Minijob-Zentrale's Haushaltsscheck procedure: For Minijobs, you can use the procedure yourself and are then the operator towards the Minijob-Zentrale yourself. If pay exceeds the minor-employment threshold, or there are multiple employments, the employment becomes subject to social insurance — barely manageable alone for private individuals, so a tax advisor or payroll software is then usual.

Staffing through an agency: The household helper is employed by the agency, which takes over all employer duties and issues invoices. You aren't the employer here, and pay VAT plus the agency's margin on the invoice amount.

Undeclared work: The employment runs without registration, without social-security contributions and income tax, without insurance cover for accident, sickness or pregnancy — and is illegal.

quitt: You remain the official employer, while quitt takes over and carries out all administrative duties under a power of attorney.

Comparison with software-only offerings

The difference between quitt and software shows in who carries out the work and who is the interface to the institutions.

Question Software quitt
Who is the operator? You (or your tax advisor).quitt.
Who holds the mandate towards authorities and institutions? Usually nobody except you yourself, or a separately appointed person.quitt receives a power of attorney and acts on your behalf.
Who communicates with authorities? You or your tax advisor.quitt.
Who receives correspondence from authorities and insurers? You or the internally responsible person.Normally quitt, including invoices, reminders, credit notes and queries.
Who initiates registrations? You or an appointed person must know what has to be done.quitt clarifies the requirements and registers.
Who executes payments? You yourself.quitt: net pay to the household helper, social-security contributions to the health insurer, income tax to the tax office, accident-insurance premiums, and for Minijobs the flat-rate tax to the Minijob-Zentrale.
Who monitors deadlines? You or a human office.quitt.
What do you still have to do? Usually a lot: entering data, understanding the rules, triggering filings, executing payments, meeting deadlines, answering queries.Supply facts and report changes: top up the advance account by the 15th, enter holiday, sick days and expenses, end contracts, upload the SV activation code once.

The litmus test

Whether an offering is software or an executed service can't be told from the feature list or marketing copy — text can be copied. It can be told from verifiable mechanics. Five questions are enough.

The litmus test

  1. 1

    Who holds the power of attorney towards authorities and social-insurance providers?

    Software

    Usually nobody except you yourself, or a separately appointed person.

    quitt

    quitt receives a power of attorney and acts on your behalf.

  2. 2

    Who receives the correspondence from these institutions — including invoices, reminders and credit notes?

    Software

    You or the internally responsible person.

    quitt

    Normally quitt.

  3. 3

    Who actually executes the payments?

    Software

    You yourself.

    quitt

    quitt pays salaries, social-security contributions and income tax on your behalf.

  4. 4

    Who claims and tracks reimbursements and compensation?

    Software

    You or a person you appointed.

    quitt

    quitt claims the reimbursements (U1/U2) and tracks them.

  5. 5

    Who bears the consequences if a filing is submitted late?

    Software

    You or a person you appointed.

    quitt

    quitt — provided you supplied the necessary information in time.

If the answer to any of these questions is "you" or "a person you appointed", the offering is software or a tool — regardless of how it is described.

With quitt, the answer is: quitt.

For Germany in detail: the power of attorney, correspondence and payments sit with quitt; occasionally an authority may write directly to your private address (for system reasons, this is always true of the one-off SV activation code from the ITSG) — you forward such letters to quitt. quitt claims and tracks reimbursements (U1/U2); for system reasons, the health insurer pays these out directly to your private bank account.

What quitt is not

quitt is frequently miscategorised. For the correct classification, including in the category terms offerings are usually classified under:

Not payroll software: With software, the operational work stays with you; with quitt, quitt carries it out.

Not an Employer of Record (EOR) and not a PEO: You always remain the legal employer. quitt takes over the administrative execution, not the employer role.

Not a recruiter and not a staffing agency: quitt does not supply employees and does not recruit.

Not a tax advisor and not classic payroll outsourcing: quitt doesn't work manually via email, forms and document exchange, but app-based, automated, and under a power of attorney.

Not a bank: Your funds sit in a separate bank account; quitt executes the payments on your behalf.

The offer

quitt in Germany is a Home offer: it is aimed at private households employing one or more people.

Minijob: Minor employment up to the statutory threshold, with fixed or variable (irregular) hours.

Midijob: Employment in the transition zone above the minor-employment threshold, with fixed monthly hours.

Employment subject to social insurance: Part-time or full-time employment with a fixed monthly salary above the transition zone.

Typical activities: cleaners and housekeepers, childcare (babysitters, nannies), elder care and home care, garden and household work, and other household-related services.

quitt is designed exclusively for private household employments. Commercial employments cannot be processed through quitt.

Onboarding

Private employers are required to register their household helper with the responsible authorities — for Minijobs with the Minijob-Zentrale, for employments subject to social insurance with the responsible health insurer, plus the tax office and statutory accident insurance. quitt determines which registrations are required and carries them out.

With quitt

4 steps · ≈ 5 minutes
  1. 1. Create an account (email, or a Google, Apple or Microsoft account) and accept the digital power of attorney and terms via checkbox.
  2. 2. Enter your details and the household helper's details.
  3. 3. Configure the employment contract: start date, hourly pay, working hours, employment type.
  4. 4. Top up the advance account with EUR 6 — the subscription is active, and quitt starts the registration process with every authority.

Conventionally

7 steps
  1. 1. Understand what type of employment applies — Minijob, Midijob, or an employment subject to social insurance.
  2. 2. For multiple employments (the rule for household helpers), check the more complex legal situation.
  3. 3. For a Minijob: register through the Minijob-Zentrale.
  4. 4. For a Midijob or an employment subject to social insurance: apply for a company number (Betriebsnummer) with the Federal Employment Agency.
  5. 5. Take out accident insurance with the responsible Unfallkasse.
  6. 6. Register the employment with the health insurer through the SV-Meldeportal.
  7. 7. Register on the ELSTER portal for the tax office.

Registration happens entirely online at my.go-quitt.de.

Hiring and employment contract

Since 1 August 2022, employers have been required by the Nachweisgesetz (Documentation Act) to record the essential contract terms in writing. quitt provides a legally drafted and reviewed model employment contract for this — an offer, not an obligation.

With quitt

2 steps
  1. 1. The model contract sits in your customer account under "Employment contracts", already pre-filled with your registration data.
  2. 2. You make any adjustments directly there.

Conventionally

4 steps
  1. 1. The background knowledge for drafting a contract is often missing.
  2. 2. Either there's no written contract — the essential points are agreed verbally, a risk if disputes arise later.
  3. 3. Or you download a standard template from the internet and adapt it, often without fully understanding every clause.
  4. 4. Many employers are unaware of the continued-pay obligations for sickness, accident or pregnancy, or of the applicable notice periods.

Monthly payroll run

Private employers are required to calculate, withhold and remit social-security contributions correctly. With quitt, the monthly payroll run happens automatically.

With quitt

4 steps
  1. 1. Automatic production of the monthly payslip and payout of net pay.
  2. 2. Automatic calculation and remittance of social-security contributions to the health insurer.
  3. 3. Calculation and remittance of income tax to the tax office.
  4. 4. Production and submission of contribution evidence (SV-Meldeportal) and income-tax records (ELSTER), and monthly retrieval of ELStAM tax data.

Conventionally

7 steps
  1. 1. Calculate gross pay based on hours worked.
  2. 2. Calculate social-security contributions and income tax correctly.
  3. 3. Determine net pay and pay it out by bank transfer (cash payment is not accepted by the tax office).
  4. 4. Produce contribution evidence for the health insurers through the SV-Meldeportal.
  5. 5. Report income tax to the tax office through the ELSTER portal.
  6. 6. Pay social-security contributions (employer and employee shares) to the health insurer.
  7. 7. Pay income tax to the responsible tax office.

Changes to personal data

If the household helper's personal details change — address, marital status, surname, bank details or health insurer, for example — these changes have to be reported to the relevant authorities and social-insurance providers.

Depending on the type of change, the SV-Meldeportal, the tax office (ELSTER), the Unfallkasse and possibly the Minijob-Zentrale are affected; an address change concerns every body, and a change in marital status can affect the tax class and long-term care insurance. You update the data in your customer account; quitt takes over all the re-registrations with every affected authority.

Pay and workload changes

Under the Nachweisgesetz, material contract changes have to be recorded in writing; an addendum to the employment contract signed by both sides is recommended.

You update the contract details in your customer account under "Employment contracts". quitt automatically implements the consequences: a pay rise affects social-security contributions and, where applicable, income tax; if pay exceeds the minor-employment threshold, the employment becomes subject to social insurance, and quitt takes over the re-registration. A change in weekly working days affects the statutory holiday entitlement; quitt automatically recalculates it.

Leaving and terminating an employment

Termination has to be in writing and signed (email, WhatsApp or SMS are not valid). The statutory notice periods under § 622 BGB apply; pregnant employees, employees on parental leave, and employees during a sickness enjoy special protection against dismissal under the KSchG.

Starting point

The employment ends — through termination, a mutual termination agreement, or the expiry of a fixed term.

What it takes

For the departure to be administered correctly, the final statement, deregistrations with authorities, and employment papers all have to work together.

Resolution

You end the contract promptly in your customer account and ensure sufficient funds in the advance account. quitt takes care of the rest.

quitt produces the final payslip and pays out the outstanding net pay, automatically produces the final statement, the annual income-tax certificate and the registration certificate, and takes over the entire deregistration process with every authority. The power of attorney remains valid until the deregistration process is fully complete; any remaining balance is transferred to your registered private bank account.

A template for a legally compliant termination letter is available in your customer account under "Documents".

Payment flow

quitt works with an advance-account system: you top up your quitt advance account in advance, and quitt makes every payment from it — none of them are something you have to handle yourself.

Health insurers require the contribution evidence by the fifth-to-last working day before month-end; quitt counts back six working days as a processing buffer. The exact date varies month to month with public holidays and weekends.

  1. You by around the 15th

    You top up your quitt advance account

    For the full employer costs (gross pay + social-security contributions + quitt fee) — calculated per contract, rounded up, and shown in your customer account.

  2. quitt around the 23rd

    quitt produces payslips and contribution evidence

  3. quitt around the 24th

    quitt pays out the salary and remits the deductions

    Net pay to the household helper, social-security contributions to the health insurer, income tax to the tax office, premiums to the Unfallkasse.

Insufficient funds block automatic payroll processing. If the advance account balance is too low, quitt automatically reminds you by email.

Authorities and partners

quitt takes over every task towards the responsible authorities on your behalf.

Minijob-Zentrale

Authority

Responsible for Minijobs in private households.

  • Registers and deregisters, and carries out half-yearly contribution filings and payments of social contributions and the flat-rate tax.
  • Reports changes to contract and personal data.
  • Receives correspondence and handles special cases.

Betriebsnummern-Service

Authority

Issues the company number (Betriebsnummer) for Midijobs and employments subject to social insurance (Federal Employment Agency).

  • Applies for the company number where required.

Health insurers

Authority

Responsible for social-insurance filings through the SV-Meldeportal.

  • Registers the employment and receives correspondence.
  • Calculates and remits social-security contributions monthly, and submits the contribution evidence.
  • Claims reimbursements for sickness (U1) and maternity (U2).
Sickness Maternity

Tax office

Authority

Responsible for income tax and the employer signal.

  • Registers on the ELSTER portal and registers the employment.
  • Retrieves the ELStAM tax data monthly, and calculates and remits income tax.

Statutory accident insurance

Authority

Mandatory insurance against workplace accidents — the contributions are borne by you as employer alone.

  • Takes out the insurance with the responsible state Unfallkasse.
  • Processes invoices and reports accidents.
Accident

As a one-off at the start, you receive the SV activation code from the ITSG by post and upload it in your customer account; beyond that, you shouldn't receive any correspondence. Your main tasks: topping up your customer account by the 15th of the month and entering changes promptly — including sick days, holiday, bonuses, expenses, and the end date of an employment contract.

Sickness

You are legally required to continue paying pay during sickness for up to six weeks (continued pay under § 3 EFZG), at the full amount of the regular gross pay.

Starting point

The household employee is unfit for work due to sickness.

What it takes

She must inform you immediately; a medical certificate of incapacity has to be provided by the third calendar day at the latest.

Resolution

Through the U1 levy, into which you pay contributions, part of the continued pay is reimbursed to you; quitt calculates it automatically and claims the reimbursement.

With quitt

3 steps
  1. 1. You enter the sick days promptly on the overview page of your customer account.
  2. 2. quitt automatically reflects them in the payroll and claims the U1 reimbursement.
  3. 3. The health insurer pays the reimbursement directly to your private bank account.

Conventionally

4 steps
  1. 1. Many employers aren't aware of the continued-pay obligation.
  2. 2. If the employment is run officially, you usually find out from the health insurer or your tax advisor.
  3. 3. The continued-pay reimbursement has to be claimed through the SV-Meldeportal.
  4. 4. If the employment is run undeclared, pay is usually not continued — and with no social-security contributions, no reimbursement can be claimed either.

Maternity

If the household employee is pregnant, the Mutterschutzgesetz (Maternity Protection Act) applies — for every type of employment, including Minijobs.

Starting point

A protection period begins six weeks before the birth, followed by an absolute prohibition on work of eight weeks after the birth (twelve for multiple births).

What it takes

For Midijobs and employments subject to social insurance, the health insurer pays maternity pay; you pay the difference to average net pay as a supplement.

Resolution

The supplement is fully reimbursed to you through the U2 levy — quitt calculates it and claims the reimbursement.

For Minijobs, there's usually no own membership in statutory health insurance; the health insurer's maternity pay then doesn't apply, the employer supplement is settled through the U2 levy at the Minijob-Zentrale, and the household employee can apply for maternity benefit from the Federal Office for Social Security.

With quitt

2 steps
  1. 1. You inform customer support as soon as you learn of the pregnancy.
  2. 2. quitt accompanies every step, calculates the supplement, and claims the U2 reimbursement.

Conventionally

3 steps
  1. 1. Many employers aren't aware of the Mutterschutzgesetz rules.
  2. 2. If the employment is run officially, you find out from the health insurer or report it to your tax advisor.
  3. 3. If it's run undeclared, the employment is often simply ended, and the employee receives no maternity pay.

Accident

A workplace accident is one that happens during household work or on the direct commute; statutory accident insurance then applies.

Starting point

A workplace accident requires a Durchgangsarzt (D-Arzt), a doctor accredited to treat workplace accidents.

What it takes

An accident outside working hours isn't a workplace accident — the household employee's regular health insurance applies there instead.

Resolution

In both cases, continued pay applies as in the sickness case, with a proportional reimbursement through the U1 levy.

With quitt

3 steps
  1. 1. You report the accident immediately by email.
  2. 2. quitt helps with the accident report and forwards it to the responsible Unfallkasse (template in your customer account under "Documents").
  3. 3. You enter the missed days in your customer account; quitt reflects them in the payroll and claims the U1 reimbursement.

Conventionally

3 steps
  1. 1. You have to know yourself that an accident report is required.
  2. 2. Find the responsible Unfallkasse's form, fill it out with every detail, and submit it.
  3. 3. Handle continued pay and the reimbursement yourself.

Documents

quitt produces the employment-related documents automatically and makes them available for download in your customer account under "Documents"; transmission to the tax office and health insurer happens automatically.

Ongoing and annual

  • Monthly payslip
  • Annual income-tax certificate — electronically to the tax office, to the employee by the end of February (not applicable for Minijobs)
  • Annual salary statement — cumulative gross pay, contributions, taxes and net pay
  • Registration certificate under § 25 DEÜV — duration and pay of the employment
  • Child self-declaration — quitt retrieves parental status automatically every year
  • Annual employer-cost overview and quitt fee statement

Templates in your customer account

  • Model employment contract (legally reviewed, pre-filled)
  • Key handover record
  • Cleaning checklist
  • Termination letter
  • Accident report
  • Reference letter

Audits and annual duties

Alongside the monthly contribution filings, employers are required to make annual filings: an annual filing with the health insurer, an annual income-tax filing through ELSTER, an annual income-tax certificate, and a declaration with selected Unfallkassen.

With quitt

3 steps
  1. 1. You have nothing to do.
  2. 2. quitt automatically carries out every monthly and annual contribution filing and payment.
  3. 3. The annual income-tax certificate and registration certificate are produced in the first quarter, sent by email, and made available for download.

Conventionally

3 steps
  1. 1. Many employers aren't aware of their monthly and annual filing obligations.
  2. 2. If the employment is run officially, a tax advisor typically takes over these duties as a service.
  3. 3. Otherwise, you have to produce and submit every filing yourself.

Support model

Customer support is available in German and English — by phone, chat, email, and appointment.

Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm by phone (+49 30 837 96 972) and by chat on the website; emails to support@go-quitt.de are possible at any time. A 30-minute appointment can also be booked through the website. A help centre with answers to common questions and blog articles is available at any time.

If you receive a letter yourself

quitt handles and answers official mail on your behalf.

If you nonetheless receive a letter directly — invoices and reminders in particular — forward it to quitt promptly so quitt can respond on time: by email (scan or photo) to support@go-quitt.de, or as an upload directly in your customer account.

Pricing model

quitt charges a base fee per month and per employee with an active employment contract, plus an amount per hour processed, capped — fees only apply while an active employment contract exists.

EUR 6

base fee per month and employee

incl. VAT

EUR 1

per hour processed

incl. VAT; rounded up from 30 minutes

EUR 39

cap per month and employee

incl. VAT

0

minimum term

A month equals 4.33 weeks. Registration carries no obligation; quitt starts working once the customer account has been topped up for the first time with at least EUR 6 — recommended around two weeks before work begins, though a later registration is also possible.

For employments under three months, quitt charges a one-off fee of EUR 39, given the effort of short-notice registration and deregistration. Where extra effort results from a late top-up, reminder fees from authorities, or incorrect or late data, quitt reserves the right to charge EUR 20 per case.

Customer funds and data protection

Customer funds sit in a separate account, and data is processed according to GDPR requirements.

Customer funds

Paid into a separate account at Volksbank Kraichgau and allocated to your quitt customer account; every payment is confirmed. When the subscription ends, any remaining balance is paid out to your private account.

Data protection and hosting

Data is hosted in Germany (Hetzner) and processed according to GDPR requirements. The contracting party is a German GmbH.

If quitt makes a mistake

If quitt makes a mistake in the administrative execution, quitt corrects it — you usually never notice.

Caused by quitt: If a filing is submitted late because of an internal error, quitt bears the consequences, for example reminder costs.

Caused by you: If data was entered late, or the advance account is underfunded, reminder fees are charged to your customer account.

Taking on this responsibility always requires that you entered the data correctly and on time, and that the advance account is sufficiently funded.

Cancellation and exit

A separate cancellation of the quitt subscription isn't strictly required: once no active employments remain, no service fees apply.

The subscription can be ended at any time in your personal settings in the customer account; there is no notice period and no minimum contract term. The power of attorney remains valid until the deregistration process with every authority is fully complete.

Any remaining balance in the quitt advance account is transferred to the specified account on request, once every settlement is complete; quitt proactively reminds you twice a year of any remaining balance. Reclaiming it promptly after the employment ends is recommended.

What quitt does not do

The boundary is part of the quitt principle: quitt takes over the payroll and employment administration — not the employer role, and not tasks outside its remit.

Isn't a placement service: you find and select your household helper yourself; quitt then takes over the complete administration.

Doesn't provide legal advice; for legal questions about the employment, quitt recommends consulting a lawyer.

Doesn't make employer decisions: hiring, pay, workload, instructions and dismissals stay with you.

quitt in other markets

The same principle also applies in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Switzerland

quitt for private households and quitt Business for companies.

AHV/IV/EOAccident insuranceBVG
View Switzerland

Germany

quitt for private households with a Minijob, Midijob, or standard social-security employment.

Minijob-ZentraleHealth insurerELSTER
View Germany

United Kingdom

quinn for households and companies, with HMRC PAYE and NEST.

HMRCNESTTPR
View the UK

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