Module 121 min2494 wordsFree — no account
Trade business or self-employed work: the features and the line between them
The module’s worked examples, then cases to attempt before revealing their solution · 2 sections · 388 words · 3 min
Worked example
The surveying office with six employees
A surveying engineer employs four engineers and two draughtswomen and makes a profit of 140,000 €. He negotiates every assignment himself, sets the measurement concepts, checks every plan before it goes out and attends difficult surveys in person. He remains a liberal professional: his staff are professionally trained, but he leads and answers for the work. If he confined himself to winning clients, reclassification would loom.
Practical case
The physiotherapy practice with a sales shelf
In 2026 a physiotherapist runs a sole practice. She practises the profession that section 18(1) no. 1 EStG lists under its older name, Krankengymnast, and employs two physiotherapists whose treatment plans she draws up herself and reviews regularly. The treatments earn her a profit of 95,000 €. At the reception desk she also sells exercise bands and food supplements, with a separate till and separate records; that selling earns a profit of 18,000 €. What income does she earn, and which amount even needs to be looked at for trade tax?
Hint: First test the treatments against the list and the rule on qualified employees, then the selling against the professional activity. Finally ask whether any provision pulls one part into the other.
Show the solution
The treatments are the professional activity of a listed profession. The employed physiotherapists are professionally trained workers; because the owner draws up and reviews the treatment plans herself, she acts in a leading and personally responsible way (section 18(1) no. 1 sentence 3 EStG). The profit of 95,000 € is therefore income from self-employed work. The selling is not part of the professional activity: it meets the four features of section 15(2) EStG, and no negative carve-out applies. The contagion rule of section 15(3) no. 1 EStG applies only to partnerships. Under case law, separable activities of a sole trader are assessed separately, and the separate till and records show that they can be separated. For trade tax, only the sales profit of 18,000 € has to be looked at. It is below the allowance of 24,500 € for individuals (section 11(1) sentence 3 no. 1 GewStG), so no tax base amount arises; the trade notification for the selling is still required.
Answer: 95,000 € self-employed work and 18,000 € trade business; only the 18,000 € count for trade tax, and after the allowance no base amount remains.
Educational content, current with the sources cited. It does not replace advice tailored to your situation. These courses are neither certifying nor CPF-eligible: they prepare for no certification registered with the French RNCP or specific register.