Hiring household staff in Germany

As of 18 October 2026

This guide summarises what a private household in Germany needs to know when it hires household staff or searches through an agency: which rules apply to the agency, which duties the household has as an employer, how registration, social insurance and tax work, and who may be employed from abroad. Every statement comes from a legal text or an official page and carries its source, all retrieved 18 October 2026. This text is guidance, not legal advice.

At a glance

• Placement agencies have not needed a licence since 2002; a trade registration is sufficient. Anyone who leases staff instead of placing them needs a licence from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency).
• From jobseekers, an agency may charge at most 2,000 euros, only under a written agreement and only on success. The law does not cap fees charged to the household.
• The statutory minimum wage is 13.90 euros gross per hour and rises to 14.60 euros on 1 January 2027. It also applies to a Minijob.
• Up to 603 euros a month, a household help is a Minijob, registered with the Minijob-Zentrale by Haushaltsscheck (household cheque procedure), with contributions of at most 14.62 percent.
• Above that, the household registers the employment with the health insurance fund and the accident insurance fund and needs a company number (Betriebsnummer).
• 20 percent of the costs reduce income tax, up to 510 euros for a Minijob and 4,000 euros for employment subject to social insurance or for services.
• Staff from EU and EEA states need no work permit. For third-country nationals there are only special rules: au pair, household employees of posted staff, the Western Balkans regulation.

Placement agencies: licence, fees, leasing

The licence requirement for private employment placement was abolished in March 2002. Since then, a trade registration under § 14 Gewerbeordnung (Trade Regulation Act) has been sufficient; in 2009 the Federal Government confirmed that private placement agents need a trade registration for their activity and no further approval. There is no public register of private placement agents; the Bundesagentur für Arbeit keeps no list and collects no data on the sector. Luxury.me therefore shows German agencies with the status Trade registration, no licence required.

The case is different when an agency employs the staff itself and supplies them to the household. This temporary agency work (Arbeitnehmerüberlassung) requires a licence from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (§ 1 Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, the Temporary Employment Act).

For payment by jobseekers, § 296 SGB III (Social Code, Book III) sets narrow limits: the placement contract must be in writing, the fee is due only once the placement has led to an employment contract, advance payments are not permitted, and the fee including VAT may not exceed 2,000 euros. No fee may be charged for placement into a Minijob, and at most 150 euros for au pair arrangements. Agreements on higher amounts are invalid (§ 297 SGB III). The Bundesagentur's consumer page states 2,500 euros; this amount is the value of the activation and placement voucher under § 45 SGB III, not the ceiling of § 296.

Fees that an agency charges the household as its client are not regulated by law. They are freely negotiable and rarely published; the register shows which agencies state their fees.

The household as employer

Anyone who employs household staff is an employer with all the duties of employment law. The essential terms of the contract must be set down in writing, signed and handed over, some on the first working day, the rest within seven days or one month (§ 2 Nachweisgesetz, Act on Proof of Working Conditions).

The statutory minimum wage has been 13.90 euros gross per hour since 1 January 2026 and will be 14.60 euros from 1 January 2027 (Fünfte Mindestlohnanpassungsverordnung, Fifth Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance). According to the Federal Ministry of Labour, it also applies to marginally employed workers.

Working time on a working day may not exceed eight hours; up to ten hours are permitted if an average of eight hours is kept within six months (§ 3 Arbeitszeitgesetz, Working Time Act). The Act does not apply to employees who live in a domestic community with the persons entrusted to them and raise, nurse or care for them on their own responsibility (§ 18 Arbeitszeitgesetz), for example a nanny or carer who lives in the house. For other live-in household employees, such as a butler or housekeeper, § 18 names no exception.

Holiday entitlement is at least 24 working days a year based on a six-day week (§ 3 Bundesurlaubsgesetz, Federal Holiday Act). In case of illness, pay must continue for up to six weeks once the employment has lasted four weeks (§ 3 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, Continued Remuneration Act). General protection against dismissal under the Kündigungsschutzgesetz (Protection Against Dismissal Act) applies only in establishments that as a rule have more than ten employees (§ 23 Kündigungsschutzgesetz).

Registration and social insurance

The earnings limit for a Minijob in 2026 is 603 euros a month; it derives from the minimum wage (§ 8 paragraph 1a SGB IV, Social Code, Book IV). A Minijob in a private household exists when the work would otherwise usually be done by members of the household (§ 8a SGB IV). The household registers it with the Minijob-Zentrale using the Haushaltsscheck (§ 28a paragraph 7 SGB IV), online or on paper.

The household's contributions in 2026 amount to at most 14.62 percent of earnings: 5 percent pension insurance, 5 percent health insurance, 1.6 percent accident insurance, 0.8 percent levy U1 and 0.22 percent levy U2, plus 2 percent flat-rate tax. The Minijob-Zentrale collects them twice a year, on 31 July and 31 January. All persons employed in private households are covered by statutory accident insurance; with the Haushaltsscheck, the Minijob-Zentrale handles registration for accident insurance.

If the household employee earns more than 603 euros, there is no Haushaltsscheck. The household registers the employment with the employee's health insurance fund, registers it directly with the accident insurance fund (Unfallkasse) of its federal state (in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2026 with a contribution of 40 euros per person) and, from the first employee onwards, applies for a company number at the Betriebsnummern-Service of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit.

Tax relief

For a Minijob in the household, income tax is reduced by 20 percent of the expenses, up to 510 euros a year. For employment in the household subject to social insurance and for household-related services, such as the services of a provider with an invoice, the reduction is 20 percent, up to 4,000 euros a year. The condition is a household in the EU or the EEA; for services, an invoice must exist and payment must have been made to the provider's account (§ 35a Einkommensteuergesetz, Income Tax Act).

Staff from abroad

Nationals of the EU and the EEA may enter and work freely as employees (§ 2 Freizügigkeitsgesetz/EU, Freedom of Movement Act/EU). Third-country nationals need a residence title that permits employment; the employer may only employ a person whose title shows this (§ 4a Aufenthaltsgesetz, Residence Act). Employment without a skilled-worker qualification, as most household work is, may only be approved if the Beschäftigungsverordnung (Employment Ordinance) provides for it (§ 19c Aufenthaltsgesetz). It contains three rules that concern households:

• Au pair (§ 12 Beschäftigungsverordnung): up to one year in a German-speaking family, basic knowledge of German, under 27 years of age. According to the Bundesagentur's information sheet, pocket money is 280 euros a month for at most 30 hours of help per week; the visa requires the prior approval of the Bundesagentur.
• Household employees of posted staff (§ 13 Beschäftigungsverordnung): anyone who comes to Germany temporarily for a foreign employer or as a diplomat may bring household employees who have been caring in the household for at least one year for a child under 16 or a family member in need of care, for at most five years. This rule does not apply to families moving to Germany privately.
• Western Balkans regulation (§ 26 paragraph 2 Beschäftigungsverordnung): nationals of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia can obtain approval for any employment, subject to a priority check and a quota of 50,000 approvals a year.

Complaints and information

Breaches of the fee rules by an agency, such as an advance payment or a fee above the limit, are administrative offences with fines of up to 30,000 euros (§ 404 SGB III); the Bundesagentur für Arbeit is responsible and follows up reports of abuse. Questions on the minimum wage are answered by the customs administration (Zollverwaltung). Whether an agency in Germany operates reputably cannot be read from a licence, because there is none; what can be checked are the trade registration, the legal notice (Impressum) and the contract terms.

Sources

All sources retrieved 18 October 2026.

1. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Private und halbstaatliche Arbeitsvermittlung, 1 April 2021, bpb.de
2. Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 16/12056, Antwort der Bundesregierung, 26 February 2009, dserver.bundestag.de
3. § 1 Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de; Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Arbeitnehmerüberlassung, arbeitsagentur.de
4. § 296 SGB III, Vermittlungsvertrag zwischen Vermittler und Arbeitsuchendem, gesetze-im-internet.de
5. § 45 SGB III, Maßnahmen zur Aktivierung und beruflichen Eingliederung, gesetze-im-internet.de
6. § 404 SGB III, Bußgeldvorschriften, gesetze-im-internet.de
7. Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Private Arbeitsvermittlung, arbeitsagentur.de
8. Fünfte Mindestlohnanpassungsverordnung of 5 November 2025, gesetze-im-internet.de; Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, Informationen zum Mindestlohn, as of 26 January 2026, bmas.de
9. § 2 Nachweisgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de
10. § 3 Arbeitszeitgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 18 Arbeitszeitgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de
11. § 3 Bundesurlaubsgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 3 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 23 Kündigungsschutzgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de
12. Minijob-Zentrale, Neue Verdienstgrenze 2026, 5 February 2026, magazin.minijob-zentrale.de; § 8 SGB IV, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 8a SGB IV, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 28a SGB IV, gesetze-im-internet.de
13. Minijob-Zentrale, Abgaben, Steuern und Fristen bei Haushaltshilfen, minijob-zentrale.de; Minijob-Beiträge 2026, magazin.minijob-zentrale.de; Haushaltsscheck für Haushalte, minijob-zentrale.de
14. Minijob-Zentrale, Gilt das Haushaltsscheck-Verfahren auch für versicherungspflichtige Beschäftigte, minijob-zentrale.de
15. Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, Haushaltshilfen, dguv.de; Unfallkasse Nordrhein-Westfalen, Haushaltshilfen, unfallkasse-nrw.de; Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Betriebsnummer beantragen, arbeitsagentur.de
16. § 35a Einkommensteuergesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de
17. § 2 Freizügigkeitsgesetz/EU, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 4a Aufenthaltsgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 19c Aufenthaltsgesetz, gesetze-im-internet.de
18. Beschäftigungsverordnung, § 12 Au-pair-Beschäftigungen, gesetze-im-internet.de; full text with § 13 and § 26, gesetze-im-internet.de
19. Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Au-pair, arbeitsagentur.de; Merkblatt Au-pair bei deutschen Familien, April 2023, arbeitsagentur.de
20. Zoll, Mindestlohn und Mindestlohngesetz, zoll.de