Those who no longer carry out their business must also report it to the competent commercial office. This is regulated very clearly by section 14 of the GewO (trade regulations). Any change affecting trade must be reported to the competent authority. Of course, this also applies to the fact that you no longer want to or can no longer practice your trade.
THE The cancellation of the company registration itself is relatively easy. Trade offices have the appropriate forms for this, but a deregistration from trade registration can also be done informally in writing or in person at many trade offices. In most cases, a business licence, confirmation of registration and an identity card are required. Most business offices charge no cancellation fees. Furthermore, a complaint to the responsible tax office is not necessary, as all competent offices are notified automatically by the commercial offices.
One consideration that still needs to be made before deregistering your business is: should the business really be completely, irrevocably and permanently deregistered – or could it be that the business will eventually be run again? In the second case it is one inactive message definitely the best solution. This also relieves you of all trader duties, but you have the option to resume trading at any time.
Until you do, you make no commitments and the trade lies dormant. There is no deadline for this. Contrary to the definitive cancellation, the contact person for the suspension of the registration is not the commercial office, but the tax office. An argument against permanent deletion is that too all licenses granted expire upon cancellation. This is not the case with the idle message.
In any case, the decision whether or not to register a business should be taken after careful consideration.