# Checking a web agency: Handelsregister and Impressum | Illia BizTech > How to check for free whether a web agency in Germany is actually registered, and what an Impressum tells you. Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen 1. [Home](/en) 2. [Resources](/en/blog) 3. Checking a web agency before you pay: Handelsregister and Impressum ![Checking a company's registration in the German Handelsregister on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_handelsregister_impressum_agentur_pruefen_84f39c129a.png) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) By: Illia Belichenko November 13, 2026 # Checking a web agency before you pay: Handelsregister and Impressum You can check a company's Handelsregister entry for free through the official portal [handelsregister.de](https://www.handelsregister.de). Since August 1, 2022, access to register entries and the documents stored there has been open without registration and free of charge ([wbs.legal](https://www.wbs.legal/handelsrecht-gesellschaftsrecht/seit-dem-1-8-2022-das-handelsregister-ist-in-deutschland-jetzt-gratis-61548/)). ## What the Handelsregister is and why it is the first check The Handelsregister is the joint register of commercial, cooperative, partnership, and association entries across all German federal states, maintained by local courts and searchable by anyone through the single portal [handelsregister.de](http://handelsregister.de). It holds the company name, legal form, registered address, people authorized to represent the company, and, for some legal forms, the articles of association. If an agency you are talking to about a website calls itself a "GmbH" or "UG", its entry should show up by name or by registration city within a minute or two of searching. ## How to check a company's registration in Germany for free On [handelsregister.de](http://handelsregister.de), entering the company name or its HRB number, found in the Impressum, into the search form and opening the record is enough. Searching and viewing the basic data has been free since August 2022, what used to cost money was only the official extract needed for a court or a bank, which a simple check of a contractor does not require. ## Which companies you will not find in the Handelsregister Not every legitimate contractor has to be entered in the Handelsregister; that depends on the legal form and type of activity. A missing entry therefore does not by itself say anything about reliability. In that case, what matters more is whether the details in the Impressum, contract, and invoice are consistent. ## How to read an Impressum and what has to be in it Under §5 DDG (the Digital Services Act, which replaced §5 TMG in May 2024), a website must clearly display the company's name and address, for legal entities also the legal form and the people authorized to represent it, a contact email, and for registered forms the register number and court, plus a tax or VAT ID if one exists ([gesetze-im-internet.de](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ddg/%5F%5F5.html)). Any additional required details depend on the company's legal form and tax situation. The check takes a minute. Enter the company name and HRB number from the Impressum into the search on [handelsregister.de](http://handelsregister.de), and if the entry exists, both should match word for word. ## How to check the account holder before you pay The simplest check needs no extra tool. The name of the payment recipient on the invoice must match the company name in the Impressum and the Handelsregister. Under §14 UStG, the invoice itself is already required to state the full name and address of the service provider ([gesetze-im-internet.de](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg%5F1980/%5F%5F14.html)), so comparing the two takes seconds once both documents are in hand. ## What to do if the invoice details don't match the Impressum If the payment recipient's name on the invoice differs from the company name in the Impressum and Handelsregister, that is not automatically fraud, sometimes a brand is billed through a different account-holding entity, or an accounting firm issues invoices on the company's behalf. Still, do not pay before getting a written explanation. Ask the contractor how the payment recipient is connected to the company named in the contract. ## What to do before you pay Before the first transfer. Look up the company by name or HRB number from the Impressum on [handelsregister.de](https://www.handelsregister.de), compare the invoice recipient's name and address against those records, and if the contractor works as a freelancer or Kleingewerbe with no register entry, cross-check at least the full name and address in the Impressum. **Share** [ ![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png) Next Post What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) ##### Illia Belichenko Illia is responsible for the technical side of Illia BizTech: website development, website updates, forms, integrations, automation and technical support. He works on connecting websites, content, advertising and internal workflows so they work together without creating unnecessary manual work. ##### Recent Posts [![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png)](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) #### [What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) November 12, 2026 [](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) [![Developer inspecting a website's structured data in browser developer tools](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_schema_markup_lokales_unternehmen_7a4925ced8.png)](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) #### [Schema.org structured data for a local business site. What you actually need](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) November 11, 2026 [](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) [![Technician checking server access logs across multiple monitors](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_crawler_robots_txt_erlauben_d862958530.png)](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) #### [GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Allow or block](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) November 10, 2026 [](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) The company name on an agency's website and its Handelsregister entry sometimes differ by a single letter, and that is enough for a payment to go to the wrong place. Illia Belichenko checks a contractor's Impressum against its Handelsregister entry during the first conversation with a client, before the project price is even discussed. Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for companies in Germany in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and search visibility work. One monthly plan covers the website, advertising and content, the scope is agreed in advance and can be moved between them when priorities change. The domain, hosting and ad accounts stay registered to the company, so the work can continue on the existing setup without a full rebuild. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.