Side business with no sales: which tax returns do you file?

You registered a side business and sold little or nothing on Amazon or eBay? Then not everything is automatically due, but not everything is gone either. Each tax has its own rule: VAT depends on your tax status, trade tax on an allowance, income tax on your total income.

Last updated: 27 October 2026

In brief

VAT: As a small business owner, as a rule no advance return and no annual return, unless you owe tax yourself as the recipient of a service (section 18(4a) UStG). As a regular taxpayer, the duty applies per period, even with no sales.
Trade tax: A return is mandatory above 24,500 euros of trade income, otherwise only if a loss carryforward from the previous year was assessed or the tax office asks.
Income tax: Whether you must file depends on your total income. Costs without sales are a loss in the EÜR.

Which return is still open with zero sales?

Tax	Duty with no sales?	What it depends on
VAT advance return	Small business: no, except in the case of section 18(4a) UStG. Regular taxpayer: yes, for every period, unless the tax office has exempted you	Tax status (section 19, section 18 UStG)
Annual VAT return	Small business: no, except in the case of section 18(4a) UStG. Regular taxpayer: yes	Tax status (section 19, section 18 UStG)
Trade tax return	No, as long as trade income does not exceed 24,500 euros and no loss carryforward was assessed	Trade income (section 25 GewStDV)
Income tax return with EÜR	Depends on total income and the case	Basic allowance, other income (section 56 EStDV)

In every case the tax office can ask you to file. Then you must file even if the law has no duty otherwise (section 149(1) sentence 2 AO).

VAT: are you a small business owner?

This decides whether you file anything. If you are based in Germany, your turnover is VAT-exempt if your total turnover in the previous year did not exceed 25,000 euros and does not exceed 100,000 euros in the current year (section 19(1) sentence 1 UStG). With a side business without sales that is almost always the case. For these businesses the filing duties of section 18(1) to (4) UStG do not apply: no advance return, no annual return (section 19(1) sentence 2 UStG). This does not apply if you owe tax yourself as the recipient of a service, for example under section 13b(5) UStG for services from a business based elsewhere in the EU: then you file advance returns for those periods and an annual return (section 18(4a) UStG). You are a regular taxpayer instead if one of the two limits is exceeded or if you expressly waived the small business rule (section 19(3) UStG); the waiver binds you for at least five calendar years.

If you are a regular taxpayer, the duty applies per period, not per euro of tax. The advance return is due by the tenth day after the end of each advance-return period (section 18(1) UStG), the annual return for the calendar year (section 18(3) UStG). If the tax for the previous year was no more than 2,000 euros, the tax office can exempt you from advance returns (section 18(2) sentence 3 UStG); without that exemption the duty stays. How a zero return works is in VAT zero return in Germany.

If you do not remember what you ticked in the tax registration questionnaire, check the letter from the tax office or ask there. More on the order after registration: Tax number for your business.

Trade tax: up to 24,500 euros there is usually no filing duty

For trade tax, the first 24,500 euros of trade income are excluded for individuals (section 11(1) GewStG). A trade tax return is due if trade income exceeded those 24,500 euros (section 25(1) no. 1 GewStDV). It is also due if a trade tax loss carryforward was separately assessed at the end of the previous year (section 25(1) no. 6 GewStDV) or if the tax office asks for it (section 25(1) no. 7 GewStDV). If you sold nothing, you are below. When the return is due, it is submitted electronically (section 14a GewStG). The calculation is in Trade tax return in Germany.

Income tax: EÜR, Anlage G and whether you must file

Your profit from a side business counts as income from a trade or business. Without a bookkeeping duty, and if you do not keep books voluntarily, you can work it out as the surplus of business income over business expenses (EÜR, section 4(3) EStG). The EÜR goes with the income tax return and is submitted electronically (section 60(4) EStDV); you enter income from a trade or business in Anlage G.

Whether you must file an income tax return depends not on the side business alone but on your whole income:

No employment income with tax withheld: You must file if your total income exceeds the basic allowance (section 56 sentence 1 no. 2 letter a EStDV). If you are spouses assessed jointly, the limit is twice the basic allowance (section 56 sentence 1 no. 1 letter a EStDV).
Employment income with tax withheld: A loss from the side business does not trigger the duty that arises for more than 410 euros of positive other income (section 46(2) no. 1 EStG). Other reasons, such as several employers, remain possible.
A remaining loss carryforward was assessed at the end of the previous year: Then you must file too (section 56 sentence 2 EStDV).
The tax office asks you to: Then the duty applies (section 149(1) sentence 2 AO).

If you do not have to file, you may still do so: employees can apply for an assessment (section 46(2) no. 8 EStG). That comes into question if you want to claim a loss.

What about costs without sales?

If you had expenses but no income, the surplus in the EÜR is negative: a loss. The law lets negative income that cannot be offset in the same year be carried back to the two previous years and forward to the following years (section 10d(1) and (2) EStG). You must keep the receipts: eight years for accounting vouchers (section 147(3) AO), more in Receipt retention periods in Germany.

If losses continue, the tax office looks at whether you run the business with the intention of making a profit. That is the test for a trade or business (section 15(2) EStG). How the tax office sees this in your case it decides individually; we give no view on it.

When is deregistering better?

If you no longer sell and do not plan to, you can deregister the business. Other steps then follow, see Closing your business as an online seller: tax steps.

Common mistakes

Mixing up the VAT duty with the amount of tax. As a regular taxpayer, a sale does not first trigger the advance return.
Concluding from "below 24,500 euros" that there is never a return. The tax office can ask you to file.
Throwing away receipts because nothing sold. The expenses are business expenses and need a receipt.
Leaving a letter from the tax office unopened. If it asks you to file, the deadline in the letter applies.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then every other tax you owe, calculated and filed in one place. If you do sell after all, you upload your Amazon or eBay report and VAT GPT works out the VAT for Germany and the EU (OSS). You upload invoices for expenses, the AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates, and you check and confirm. With VAT GPT Pro you create the VAT return, the EÜR, the trade tax return and the income tax return and send them through ELSTER. There is Free, Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro (€49 per month or €444 per year, including VAT). Try for free now

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to report a side business with no sales to the tax office? You register the business with the trade office (section 14 GewO); the municipality informs the tax office (section 138(1) AO). Within one month you send the tax office further information electronically, the tax registration questionnaire (section 138(1b) and (4) AO). That does not automatically create a duty to file tax returns; it depends on each tax.

Do I have to file a zero return as a small business owner? As a rule no, the filing duties of section 18(1) to (4) UStG do not apply (section 19(1) sentence 2 UStG). Exceptions: you owe tax yourself as the recipient of a service (section 18(4a) UStG), or the tax office asks you to file.

Do I need a trade tax return? If trade income exceeds 24,500 euros, if a loss carryforward was assessed at the end of the previous year, or if the tax office asks you to.

Do my costs belong in the tax return? Yes, as business expenses in the EÜR. Without income this results in a loss.

What if I do nothing? The tax office can ask you to file (section 149(1) sentence 2 AO). Check what applies to you before that.