German Regulatory Documents

As Twilio, our telephony service provider only supports phone numbers registered to businesses and not individuals, an excerpt from the commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug) is the only document that can be used to register numbers in Germany. Please note that the document's date of issue has to be less than 3 months.

For Sole traders that don't have a commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug), you will need to submit:

• Trade license (Gewerbe Anmeldung, or Gewerbe Ummeldung, or Gewerbe Anmeldung + Gewerbe
  Ummeldung, see more at the end of this document)
• Front + back of the Government-issued ID showing full German address of Sole Trader or Partner that appears in the Trade License. This address should match the address within the trade license's Angaben zur Person section (ie. owner's address).

If you have an excerpt from the commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug), the rest of this doc doesn’t apply to you.

How to submit documents for sole traders only

GewerbeAnmeldung or GewerbeUmmeldung or Anmeldung merged with Ummeldung should be uploaded as Proof of Identity and Address under the Trade license document type.

The address added on the address field should match exactly to the address on the trade license.

Government-issued ID displaying a German Address for the business representative displayed on the Gewerbe should be uploaded under the Excerpt from the commercial register field.

If there is no address on the Government-issued ID, merged with any of the Registration Certificates (Anmeldebestätigung or Meldebescheinigung) and uploaded under the Excerpt from the commercial field.

Business Name

In the case of Sole Traders, the business name is usually the same as their individual name, unless it's defined differently.

Business Address

There are 2 addresses within the Trade license, usually, they are the same, but not necessarily.
The owner's address is under the "Angaben zur Person" section and has to match the provided ID.

The business address is under the "Angaben zum Betrieb" section. When procuring numbers, the business address area code is used.

When filling out the bundle, the trade license address fields are for business addresses and need to match the business address shown on the trade license and the ID document address fields will show the sole trader´s personal address. Even if they are one and the same both of the documents need the address to be filled in.

What if the Government-issued ID address DOESN'T show the owner's address from the trade license?

In such cases, we need to submit the Government-issued ID (example: Visa, Passport) merged with a Registration Certificate (‘Anmeldebestätigung’ or ‘Meldebescheinigung’). A Registration Certificate is a document that also proves that you live at a certain address.

What if the owner's address on Gewerbe is from another country?

Due to regulatory reasons, you can't procure German numbers if the owner's address is not in Germany. Both owner's and business addresses must be in Germany in order to procure German numbers.

Gewerbe Anmeldung vs. Gewerbe Ummeldung

If a sole trader makes a change to their business registration, their original trade license changes from a "Gewerbe Anmeldung" to a "Gewerbe Ummeldung". If this is the case, the best would be to combine both documents into a single PDF - essentially providing the initial registration document (Gewerbe Anmeldung) plus any additions/changes to it (Gewerbe Ummeldung).

Document Expiration Date

Usually, the commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug) has to be less than 3 months old, but in the case of Sole proprietorships in Germany, Twilio made an exception as you get these documents only once - when you register your sole proprietorship so Gewerbe Anmeldung/Ummeldung don't have any expiration limits.