Do I have to pay Künstlersozialabgabe on influencer collaborations in Germany?

The KSK, Germany’s artists’ social insurance fund, answers the question directly in its FAQ for businesses (question 24). If an influencer advertises you or your products with promotional photos, videos or texts they create themselves, the fee for that is subject to the levy. The KSK’s catalogue of artistic and journalistic activities lists influencers for exactly this kind of work.

According to the KSK, this does not apply to commission from an affiliate partnership. Creators are paid not directly for artistic or journalistic work but for providing advertising space on social media, meaning embedding affiliate links. The KSK does not say if this also covers commission tied to a post you have specifically commissioned.

The levy is paid by the business, not by the creator. It makes no difference whether the creator is insured with the Künstlersozialversicherung, the artists’ social insurance (§ 25(1) KSVG). Together with a federal subsidy, the levy funds the half of the contributions that the KSK pays for insured artists and writers.

If a fee and commission sit in the same contract, the fee is part of the assessment base, according to the KSK. The KSK does not say if the exception also covers commission on sales from exactly the posts you commissioned. Under § 25(2) KSVG, the fee includes everything you spend to obtain or use a work. Showing the amounts separately helps with your records under § 28 KSVG, but on its own it does not decide how they are treated. Clarify mixed contracts like this in advance with the KSK or your tax adviser.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs sets the rate each year by ordinance for the following year, normally by 30 September (§ 26(5) KSVG). It applies to the fees you pay in that calendar year.

1. Say your brand pays a creator €5,000 net in 2026 for three reels she films herself. Her invoice also shows €950 VAT as a separate line.
2. The VAT does not count (§ 25(2) KSVG), so the assessment base is €5,000. As that is more than €1,000, you are liable as a self-advertiser.
3. Levy for 2026: €5,000 × 4.9% = €245. If the same payment fell in 2027, it would be exactly €250 at 5.0%.
4. If the same creator also earns €5,000 in commission from your affiliate programme for purchases through links in her storefront, separate from the reels, nothing is added, according to the KSK: €0. If the commission depends on sales from the commissioned reels, the KSK does not say if the exception applies.
5. You report the €5,000 by 31 March 2027. That sets the monthly advance payments from March 2027. If you were liable for all of 2026, they are based on one twelfth at the 2027 rate: €416.67 × 5.0% = €20.83. As that is not more than €40, no advance payment is due (§ 27(3) KSVG). If you were only liable in some months of 2026, the base is divided by the number of those months instead of twelve (§ 27(4) KSVG). With three months, it would be €83.33 a month.

• A brand advertising itself is a self-advertiser (Eigenwerber): liable if the fees for work it orders from self-employed artists and writers add up to more than €1,000 in a calendar year (§ 24(2) KSVG). In 2025 the limit was €700, up to 2024 it was €450.
• All such work counts towards the limit, including advertising photos, copy or web design, not just influencers.
• Agencies doing advertising or public relations for third parties are typical users of creative work (§ 24(1) no. 7 KSVG). According to the KSK, there is no de minimis limit for them.
• You have to register yourself, using the KSK’s registration form (Anmelde- und Erhebungsbogen). The KSK then examines your liability and, where it applies, confirms it by formal notice.
• By 31 March, you report the previous year’s fees (§ 27(1) KSVG).
• Monthly advance payments are due by the 10th of the following month. They do not apply if the amount is no more than €40 (§ 27(2) and (3) KSVG).
• You keep ongoing records of all fees and retain them for at least five years (§ 28 KSVG). The KSK and the German pension insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) can ask for them in audits.

What matters is who signs the contract with the creator. If an agency signs on the creator’s behalf, for example with “represented by …” in the contract, the contract is directly between you and the creator. If you are liable, you report the whole fee, according to the KSK including the part that goes to the agency as commission. If you are not, the agency pays the levy if it is itself liable under § 24(1) KSVG (§ 25(3) KSVG).

If an agency buys the work in its own name and sells it on to you, say as a full-service campaign, the agency is your contracting party. If it is a GmbH or UG, your payment to it is not part of the assessment base, according to the KSK. The agency then reports what it pays the creators itself, if it is liable. If it is not, those payments count towards your assessment base, according to the KSK, provided you are liable (§ 25(1) sentence 2 KSVG). The KSK counts advertising and PR agencies working for third parties, as well as artist agencies and artist managers, among the typical users of creative work.

You cannot shift who pays the levy by contract. According to the KSK, such clauses have no effect towards the Künstlersozialkasse. It recommends clear contracts, for example with the levy number (Abgabenummer) of the liable party in the contract. If you are liable, that is your number. The agency then sees that the levy falls to you, not to the agency.

With wyrld Boost, you take a campaign budget to creators who feature your products. You set the products, the period and the KPIs that decide payouts, such as sales, clicks, watch time or reach, and you choose the shops where people buy. Many creators can take part at the same time, and joining is each creator’s own decision. Creators label campaign videos as advertising. The KSK says nothing about campaign budgets split according to KPIs. Check how a Boost campaign is treated for the Künstlersozialabgabe with your tax adviser or the Künstlersozialkasse before it starts.

With the brand and shop subscription, you see every day which creators feature your products and who actually sells, and wyrld sets up your own terms with those creators. If your affiliate programme runs through one of the large affiliate networks, wyrld appears there as a single partner. You pay for clicks, sales or both on your own terms, without agreeing fees for posts with individual creators.

Creators can usually pick your products through your affiliate programme already, but that alone brings no posts: the creators you want most rarely post without a reason. The hard part is getting many of them to post at the same time and then seeing who sells. You connect through your existing affiliate programme or directly, and prices for the subscription and Boost are on request. Connection, subscription or Boost: what fits your brand is something to talk through with wyrld.