Immediate notification when starting work in certain economic sectors
Oct 30, 2025
Employers are obliged to register their employees with social security after they start work, either with the first subsequent payroll accounting or at the latest within six weeks of the start of employment. However, employees in marginal and short-term employment must be registered with the Minijob-Zentrale (mini-job center).
However, certain sectors of the economy are obliged to submit a so-called immediate notification for their employees to the German Pension Insurance Fund electronically before the first day of work at the latest. The immediate notification does not replace the registration and vice versa. Even for mini-jobbers, the immediate notification must be submitted to the German Pension Insurance Fund and not to the Minijob-Zentrale. This applies regardless of the specific activity of an industry subject to immediate reporting.
The reason for this is that the customs authorities responsible for monitoring illegal employment have direct access to the immediate registration data held by the German Pension Insurance Fund. Companies subject to immediate reporting whose employees cannot be found in the database in the event of an inspection face the initiation of proceedings for illegal employment.
The following economic sectors are subject to immediate reporting:
• Construction industry
• Restaurant and accommodation industry
• Building cleaning industry
• Passenger transport industry
• Freight forwarding, transport, and logistics industry
• Forestry companies
• Meat industry companies
• Security and guard services industry
• Trade fair and exhibition assembly and dismantling companies
• Fairground and amusement park operators
• Prostitution industry
The immediate notification must include the employee's first and last name, insurance number (European insurance number, if applicable), employer's company number, and the date of commencement of employment. If the insurance number is not (yet) known, the date of birth, place of birth, and address must also be provided.