Becoming self-employed involves financial risks. To cushion these risks, some insurances are required by the state. For example, if you are employed or self-employed, health and nursing care insurance is required by the state. However, some insurances are only required for certain professions. Here you can find out what these are and what you need to bear in mind.

If you are self-employed, there are compulsory insurances that can vary depending on the industry. In any case, however, it is essential to take out a policy, otherwise you may be required to pay additional fees or even fines. Please therefore find out in good time which compulsory insurances are mandatory for you.

No matter what industry you are self-employed in, you must take out health and nursing care insurance. However, you have the choice of whether you take out private insurance or become a voluntary member of a statutory health insurance fund. The choice you make depends on how you were previously insured and how high your current income is. If you have statutory health insurance, you are automatically insured for nursing care. 

If you are privately insured, you must additionally take out nursing care insurance. Independent and individual advice is recommended in order to take your living circumstances and long-term goals into account. -Maternity protection and self-employment- Unfortunately, financial protection through the Maternity Protection Act is currently only available to employed women. However, as an entrepreneur, you have the option of taking out additional insurance, known as daily sickness benefit.

Statutory pension insurance is only compulsory for certain self-employed people. These include: (craftspeople, home-based tradespeople, nurses, midwives and obstetric nurses, self-employed teachers, self-employed educators, artists, publicists, sea pilots, coastal boatmen).
If you are not obliged to have pension insurance, you can still apply for this obligation. This is possible within the first five years after founding your company and then applies for the entire duration of your self-employment. Your advantage: You are entitled to state-subsidized pension plans such as the Riester pension.

Alternatively, you can also opt for voluntary pension insurance. You can find more information about retirement provision at Stiftung Warentest and the consumer advice centers, for example.

In certain professions there is a higher risk of accidents. Accident insurance protects you from the financial consequences of an accident. It is required by law for the following professional groups: (some self-employed people in the healthcare sector, home-based tradespeople, agricultural entrepreneurs, coastal boatmen and coastal fishermen).
If you are a member of a professional chamber, there may be a specific accident insurance that is then responsible for you. Inquire directly with your chamber. The worker’s compensation boards are the providers of statutory accident insurance. In principle, all people who are in an employment, service or training relationship are insured. 

It is mandatory to report this to the worker’s compensation board, but this does not apply to the self-employed. Depending on the statutes of the worker’s compensation board, there may also be compulsory insurance for entrepreneurs (see www.dguv.de). It is also possible to take out voluntary insurance as an entrepreneur.

Specific insurance policies exist for risks in the company sector, such as burglary, fire, machine damage or negligence that lead to liability claims. This includes professional liability insurance, which covers personal injury, property damage and financial loss and is mandatory in particular for self-employed people in advisory and planning professions, including: (doctors, pharmacists, psychotherapists, engineers, architects, lawyers, notaries, tax consultants, auditors, insurance brokers.)

Professional liability insurance is often offered specifically for certain professional groups and is tailored to the individual needs of these professions.

You must meet the following requirements if you want to voluntarily insure yourself in unemployment insurance (“insurance relationship upon application”):
1.Before starting your self-employment, you must have been in a relationship requiring insurance for at least 12 months within the last 30 months (examples: employee, receiving sick pay subject to insurance or during periods of childcare subject to insurance). The insurance requirement does not have to be continuous; individual insurance periods can also be added together. Even periods of voluntary continued insurance can be taken into account. This enables you to voluntarily continue to be insured in unemployment insurance if you become self-employed in Germany after a period of working abroad.
2.Immediately before starting your self-employment, you must have received a wage replacement benefit under the Social Security Code III (e.g. unemployment benefit), whereas the duration of the benefit is irrelevant. The “compulsory insurance relationship upon application” in unemployment insurance is not possible if you are already subject to compulsory insurance in another way, e.g.: (as employee, during child-rearing periods, during military service, civil servants (generally exempt from unemployment insurance), judges (generally exempt from unemployment insurance), soldiers (generally exempt from unemployment insurance).