Steuerring

What Steuerring does

Steuerring e.V. is a non-profit, registered association (eingetragener Verein) headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, organized as a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein under §14 StBerG and supervised by the Oberfinanzdirektion Frankfurt am Main. Founded in 1969, the association provides wage and income tax preparation, year-round tax advisory, communication with the Finanzamt on members' behalf, and tax legal protection (Einspruch and representation before tax courts) to approximately 400,000 individual members across Germany. The membership is structured as annual subscriptions priced on an income-based sliding scale starting at €60 per year, plus a one-time €14 registration fee, with tiers extending to over €200,000 of gross annual income.

Services are delivered through a hybrid physical-and-digital channel: a network of over 1,100 independent Beratungsstellen (consulting locations) nationwide for in-person advice, complemented by a self-serve Member Portal at mein.steuerring.de for document submission and account management. Supporting technology is conventional rather than proprietary — a TYPO3 CMS-based website with integrations including meetergo for appointment scheduling, Cookiebot for GDPR consent, ProvenExpert for reviews, GoTo for video consultations, and CleverReach for email newsletter delivery. The underlying core is human advisory labor rather than automation, with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities, proprietary model, or public API.

The association is a member of the Bundesverband Lohnsteuerhilfevereine (BVL) and maintains affinity partnerships with VdK Deutschland, Förderungsgesellschaft des Deutschen BundeswehrVerbandes, and Reservisten Service GmbH to access distinct customer pools. Leadership consists of a three-person Vorstand (Christian Munzel as Vorstandssprecher, plus Jens Deegen and Alexander Köstlinger), with ownership resting with the membership under the non-economic structure defined by §21 BGB — there is no parent company, no PE/VC sponsor, and no disclosed funding rounds. Revenue is generated solely from membership fees; no enterprise clients or B2B revenue streams are present.

Name

Steuerring

Legal name

Steuerring e.V. (Lohnsteuerhilfeverein)

Website

https://steuerring.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1969

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Steuerring e.V. is a German non-profit Lohnsteuerhilfeverein (wage tax assistance association), founded in 1969, serving about 400,000 individual members across Germany through 1,100+ consulting locations and an online member portal, with annual income-based membership fees starting at €60.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tax Advisory Services

NAICS

Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services (5412)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAEAKAE

Trust & Estate Tax Planning & Compliance

Financial & Insurance/Financial Advisory, Brokerage & Intermediation/Fiduciary, Trust & Estate Advisory

SECONDARYFSAEAMAL

Affinity, Membership & Association Referral Programs

Financial & Insurance/Financial Advisory, Brokerage & Intermediation/Introducers, Finders & Referral Networks

Keywords

• Income tax preparation
• Tax advisory services
• Wage tax assistance
• Tax return filing
• Tax legal protection

Headquarters

HQ city

Darmstadt

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Annual membership fees calculated based on member's gross annual income. Fees start at 60€ per year for lowest income bracket. A one-time registration fee of 14€ applies. The income-based pricing ranges from approximately 60€ to higher tiers based on earnings up to 200,000€+.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Steuerring operates as a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein providing annual membership-based income tax return preparation, year-round tax advisory, communication with the Finanzamt on behalf of members, and tax legal protection (Einspruch and Finanzgericht representation) for individuals. Membership is sold directly to consumers (employees and pensioners) for income-based annual fees starting at €60, with service delivered through a nationwide network of 1,100+ Beratungsstellen and an online member portal.

Product overview

Steuerring is a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein (wage tax assistance association) offering tax preparation and advisory services to approximately 400,000 members through a network of over 1,100 consulting locations across Germany. The core offering is the all-inclusive tax return preparation service, which includes year-round tax advisory, tax legal protection for disputes with tax authorities, and direct communication with the tax office on behalf of members. Members access services through multiple channels: the secure Member Portal (Mein Steuerring) for document exchange and account management; an Advisor Finder tool integrated with Google Maps to locate nearby consulting locations; and a fee calculator to estimate annual membership costs starting at 60 EUR. The association also provides educational resources including a Tax Knowledge Base (Steuerlexikon) and a news section with tax tips and guidance on topics like retirement planning, family taxation, and filing deadlines. Communication includes email newsletters delivered via CleverReach, and an appointment scheduling system powered by meetergo for booking advisor consultations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tax Return Preparation Service Full preparation of income tax returns (Einkommensteuererklärung) for members, including document review, tax optimization analysis, and communication with tax authorities. Targeted at individual employees and pensioners who are members of the association.
• Year-Round Tax Advisory Continuous tax consultation included in the annual membership fee, allowing members to ask tax-related questions throughout the year.
• Tax Legal Protection Legal representation service for filing appeals and pursuing cases at tax courts when the tax authority disagrees with the member's tax return assessment, bundled into the membership.
• Member Portal (Mein Steuerring) Secure online portal where members can submit documents, receive communications from advisors, download contribution invoices, and manage personal data.
• Advisor Finder / Beratungsstelle Search Search tool to find nearby tax advisors among the 1,100+ Beratungsstellen across Germany, integrated with Google Maps for directions.
• Membership Fee Calculator Interactive calculator that lets prospective members estimate annual membership fees based on gross annual income, with the lowest tier priced at €60 per year.
• Tax Knowledge Base (Steuerlexikon) A-to-Z glossary of German tax terminology providing explanations of tax concepts, regulations, and terminology for members and visitors.
• Tax Tips & News (Steuertipps) Educational content section with articles on tax topics including retirement planning (Riester, Rürup), family taxation, disability deductions, and filing deadlines.
• Email Newsletter Email newsletter delivered via CleverReach providing tax tips, news about tax law changes, association updates, and job postings.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fixed annual price starting at 60€ with no additional costs beyond membership fee

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bundesverband LohnsteuerhilfevereinecoreOthersSteuerring is a member of the Bundesverband Lohnsteuerhilfevereine (Federal Association of Lohnsteuerhilfevereine), located at Reinhardtstraße 23, 10117 Berlin. This is the primary industry association for Lohnsteuerhilfevereine in Germany.
• Deutsche Rentenversicherung BundminorOthersGovernment agency listed as a partner link on steuerring.de for related information on pension insurance.
• Sozialverband VdK DeutschlandminorOthersSocial association listed as cooperation partner providing additional member value for VdK members who may be interested in Steuerring services.
• Förderungsgesellschaft des Deutschen BundeswehrVerbandesminorOthersListed as a cooperation partner - affinity group partnership targeting military personnel who may benefit from tax assistance services.
• Reservisten Service GmbHminorOthersListed as cooperation partner - affinity group targeting reservists with tax assistance services.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• DATEV eG: Dominant German cooperative providing tax/accounting software and infrastructure primarily to professional Steuerberater rather than consumers. Adjacent rather than direct, but shapes the broader tax-advice ecosystem in which Steuerring operates.

Direct peers

• AKB Lohnsteuerhilfe (Arbeiterwohlfahrt): A welfare-affiliated Lohnsteuerhilfeverein offering tax assistance for members via a Beratungsstellen-style advisor network. Comparable on regulatory model and customer persona, with affinity-distribution characteristics similar to Steuerring.
• Lohnsteuerhilfe für Arbeitnehmer e.V. (LSTA): Another major German Lohnsteuerhilfeverein serving employees and retirees through an advisor network with annual membership fees. Comparable on regulatory category, customer persona, and service offering.
• Vereinigte Lohnsteuerhilfe (VLH): Germany's largest Lohnsteuerhilfeverein, operating the same regulated association model under §14 StBerG with a similar Beratungsstellen-style advisor network and income-based subscription pricing. Most directly comparable competitor by structure, service scope, and target customer.
• Lohnsteuerhilfe Bayern e.V. Large Lohnsteuerhilfeverein operating advisor locations primarily in Bavaria and broader Germany. Same regulatory category and service offering, with a comparable income-based subscription model.

Emerging players

• Taxfix: Berlin-based, well-funded digital tax filing app serving German employees with subscription pricing. Overlaps Steuerring on customer persona (wage earners) but competes via mobile-first self-service rather than Beratungsstellen.
• Smartsteuer: Digital income tax filing service (from Wolters Kluwer) serving German consumers with guided online returns. Same end-customer and same annual filing event, but software-led delivery model competes for Steuerring's low-complexity cases.
• WISO Mein Steuer (Buhl Data): Long-established tax software product from Buhl Data targeting German wage earners with DIY filing plus tax advice add-ons. Reaches the same consumer segment as Steuerring with a primarily self-service value proposition.

Others

• ELSTER (Finanzamt Online Portal): Free official digital tax filing portal operated by the German tax authorities. Serves the same employee segment as Steuerring with no-cost DIY filing, anchoring the price/expectation floor for tax preparation services in Germany.
• H&R Block: Large multinational consumer tax preparation franchise. Different geographic focus (North America), but a useful international reference point for the assisted retail tax-prep business model that Lohnsteuerhilfevereine resemble.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/steuerring
• Facebookde-de.facebook.com/SteuerRing
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/steuerring
• Instagraminstagram.com/steuerring

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steuerring