Fee and levy calculator
Three questions that arrive together and get answered separately: what does the person have to be paid, what does that cost us on top, and what may we pay a volunteer without creating a tax problem for them?
The calculator answers all three from our published figures — and checks the things that actually go wrong in practice: whether the levy applies at all, and whether the allowance still has room.
The fees from here belong in the Cost and funding plan as expenditure — and they feed straight into the Ticket price and break-even calculator.
How this is calculated
The fee floor follows the BFDK recommendations and distinguishes whether the person is insured with the Künstlersozialkasse. Someone who is not pays their own social insurance out of the same fee — paying both the same is the common error and leaves the uninsured person worse off for equal work. Some state associations publish their own, differing figures.
For the artists' social levy, two things decide the matter before the percentage does. Fees invoiced by a company are not liable at all — the levy covers payments to self-employed people. And an organiser who does not promote events professionally only becomes liable above a handful of events a year and above the trivial limit (§ 24 KSVG).
The volunteer allowances apply per person per year across all organisations. The calculator can only show how much of the allowance this payment uses — it does not know what somebody received elsewhere, and it does not pretend to.
Subsistence is reduced when you provide meals: 20 % of the full daily rate for breakfast, 40 % each for lunch and dinner. Feeding your crew and still paying the full rate is simply wrong. Travel and subsistence are reimbursement, not allowance — they do not count against the annual limit.
- Fee floor: BFDK recommendation, 2026
- Artists' social levy: §§ 24, 25 KSVG; rate 4.9 % for 2026
- Allowances: § 3 Nr. 26 and Nr. 26a EStG; § 9 Abs. 4a EStG (subsistence)
Every figure with its source and review date is in the metrics register — including when it was last checked against the regulation.
Common questions
Anyone who regularly commissions self-employed artists, musicians, writers or publicists — including non-profit associations, and including when the person commissioned is not insured with the Künstlersozialkasse themselves. What counts is what you pay out, not how the other side is insured. Occasional organisers have two exemptions: a trivial limit on the yearly total and a limit on the number of events. Both are in the calculator, and it tells you whether you stay under them.
No, and it is not meant to. The calculator does the arithmetic and checks the two or three rules that trip people up. Whether you are liable is ultimately for the Künstlersozialkasse to decide, and what applies for tax is for your adviser.
Then no artists' social levy is due on that amount. Enter it anyway — the calculator shows it separately so you can see it was considered and deliberately left out of the base.
That is an honest answer, not a calculation error. Either the programme gets smaller or the funding gets bigger — many programmes now explicitly require the floors to be met and fund them accordingly. The funding plan takes the figure straight across.
For part-time work in the charitable sector, yes — but per person per year in total, not per event. Ask what someone has already received this year and enter it.
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Related tools
- Cost and funding planExpenditure, income and the funding gap in the format funders expect — with ticket pricing and drawdown.
- Ticket price and break-even calculatorWhat a ticket has to cost to carry the event — with free places, batches and a grant share.
- Countdown task planFrom twelve months out to four weeks afterwards — with deadlines, owners and a link to the right tool.
Orientation value. This calculator is no substitute for talking to the licensing authority, the building inspectorate, the fire service or a qualified planner. The German states each adapt the model regulation, so what binds your event is your state's version plus the conditions in your own permit.
Figures as of: 1.0 · last reviewed: 2026-09-18