Tax & Audit Firms

In brief: In Germany a tax practice changes hands for 0.8-1.4x of transferable annual revenue (Haufe Taxulting 2025), larger units for 4.1-7.6x adjusted EBITDA (exit-coach.de 2026). Buyers are classic successors, networks such as ETL and PE platforms such as Afileon or atania (Taxdoo 03/2026). A sale typically takes 9-18 months, plus a 1-3 year handover phase (exit-coach.de 2026).

Market overview: tax advisory & audit in the DACH region

The German market for audit and tax advisory grew by 6.1% to €22.6bn in revenue in 2025, despite the recession (Lünendonk-Liste 2026). In 2024 growth was already 7.6%, to €21.3bn (Lünendonk-Liste 2025). Market volume has doubled within twelve years (Lünendonk 2026). Tax advisory is therefore one of the most stable service markets in Germany, largely independent of the economic cycle.

The structure below is extremely fragmented. The Federal Chamber of Tax Advisers (BStBK) counts 105,953 chamber members, of whom around 89,500 are tax advisers and 59,519 are self-employed (BStBK professional statistics 2025, as of 01.01.2026). An average sole practice generates €305k revenue and around €125k surplus with 4.5 employees, an average professional partnership €1.27m revenue and €415k surplus with 32.8 employees (BStBK STAX 2024). Only at the top is consolidation already running faster than the overall market: the Big Four together generated around €11.3bn in 2025 and thus a 50.1% market share, and the top 25 firms grew by 8.1% on average (Lünendonk 2026).

The real driver of deal activity is demographics. 45.8% of all professionals are 56 or older, 13.7% even over 70, and fewer than one in five is under 40 (BStBK 2025). At the same time the pipeline of new talent is shrinking: only 17,081 apprenticeships for tax clerks were running as of 01.01.2026, down 1.3% on the previous year, compared with more than 18,100 in 2020 (BStBK 2025). In the ifo business survey 2025, more than 72% of practices reported difficulty finding qualified staff. This succession wave affects the entire Mittelstand, and the practice market is one of the sectors where private equity is filling the succession gap most actively.

To be clear on scope: this page covers tax advisory and audit practices. Law firms follow their own professional rules with their own buyer landscape. Pure bookkeeping and payroll providers work without reserved activities, are valued differently and are covered under Business Services. Both are related but separate markets.

What the 9th StBerÄndG changes from September 2026

The 9th Tax Advisory Amendment Act (9. StBerÄndG) is the deepest regulatory cut in this market for decades. The Bundestag passed it on 24.04.2026 and it comes into force on 01.09.2026, with no grandfathering. The new § 55a para. 1 sentence 3 StBerG extends the ban on outside ownership to the entire ownership chain, including indirect holdings. Direct PE investments in tax advisory firms, or ones nested through holding companies, are therefore blocked.

Investors are not responding by withdrawing, but by restructuring. Under the headline "Private Equity sucht Plan B" (private equity looks for plan B), Börsen-Zeitung described on 29.04.2026 how PE houses now structure their entry through the WPG route: audit firms under the WPO recognised by the Chamber of Public Accountants (WPK), where the chamber's ownership and voting rules must be strictly observed. This shifts demand. Practices with an audit arm become the preferred entry vehicle, and audit capacity is scarce: the WPK has around 21,000 members (WPK membership statistics, as of 07/2025), and only 381 candidates sat the I/2026 exam, 7% fewer than the year before (WPK exam statistics). An existing audit licence has thus become an asset in its own right.

The Taxdoo dossier (as of 03/2026) shows how far the market has already been penetrated: 15-20% of tax practices have taken on investors or are considering it. If you want to sell, this has a practical consequence. The question is no longer only what a buyer pays, but whether its ownership structure can still carry the deal from September 2026.

Who is buying now

The buyer landscape has visibly broadened since 2025. These groups in particular are publicly documented:

• Afileon (Partners Group platform): By its own account more than 100 advisory firms under one roof, with a revenue target of more than €500m by 2027. The most aggressive practice consolidator in the German market (Afileon's own statements; Taxdoo dossier 03/2026).
• WTS Group (EQT as anchor investor): EQT invested in the tax advisory group WTS in 04/2025, one of the first large deals by a global PE house in the German tax market (publicly reported 04/2025; Taxdoo 03/2026).
• ETL Group (KKR financing participation): More than 1,000 practices and more than 13,000 employees, with KKR publicly reported as a financing participant. The largest existing practice network in Germany (publicly reported; Taxdoo 03/2026).
• atania (Greenpeak platform): Launched on 03.12.2025, merged with LKC in March 2026. More than 30 practices, around 700 employees, €68.8m revenue, actively acquiring mid-sized practices (publicly reported 12/2025 to 03/2026; Taxdoo 03/2026).
• PKF WMS (Ufenau platform): Ufenau Capital Partners is building a buy-and-build platform in the mid-market segment with PKF WMS (Taxdoo dossier, 03/2026).
• Other reported PE moves: Cinven at Grant Thornton, and ICG in negotiations over a majority stake in Baker Tilly Deutschland (Taxdoo dossier, as of 03/2026). The circle of buyers keeps widening.
• Classic successors and regional practices: Employed tax advisers who want to take over and growing regional practices remain the most frequent buyers of small sole practices, matched among other channels through practice exchanges and specialised intermediaries (exit-coach.de 2026).

In this market, strategic buyers are therefore mainly the growing networks and regional practices themselves. Family offices are also watching the segment, but the publicly documented platform acquisitions so far come almost entirely from the groups above. Which buyer type is right for which practice depends heavily on size and the seller's handover wishes. The comparison PE investor vs. strategic buyer explains the differences. The practice market is one of the most active consolidation fields among current DACH M&A trends.

EBITDA multiples in the sector

The practice market traditionally calculates in revenue multiples, the so-called revenue method. PE buyers and larger networks calculate in adjusted EBITDA in parallel. Both views belong on the table if you want to assess the value of your practice realistically.

Data basis: publicly reported practice transactions and market analyses (sources in the text); assessment: SourcingClub, as of August 2026. Cross-sector ranges: EBITDA multiples DACH.

On the sources in detail: Haufe Taxulting gives a range of 0.8-1.4x annual revenue for 2025, and exit-coach.de confirms 80-150% of revenue in 2026, with an EBITDA range of 4.1-7.6x (average 5.8x) for advisory services. The Glawe practice value formula applies a factor of 0.8-1.2 to the average fees of the last three years. CT Acquisitions reports a median for the DACH lower mid-market in 2026 of 4.5x (micro-cap) to 9.5x (upper LMM), and the Taxdoo dossier cites US accounting platforms at 10-17x EBITDA as the upper anchor. The WPG row is explicitly indicative, as no published German median exists. The market is splitting right now. The consolidation wave is pushing up prices for larger, digital units, while small analogue sole practices in structurally weak regions find it increasingly hard to attract successors. The average multiple therefore tells you little about your practice.

What raises the multiple and what lowers it

Valuation example: a tax practice with €1.0m revenue worked through

A fictitious but typical example of a practice ready for handover: a tax advisory practice in a mid-sized town in western Germany, owner aged 61, one employed tax adviser, nine qualified staff. Sustainable annual revenue of €1.0m with around 85% recurring engagements from bookkeeping, payroll and annual accounts, surplus €330k (33%, close to the STAX 2024 level for professional partnerships with an average €1.27m revenue and €415k surplus).

Route 1, revenue method: The rule of thumb of 0.8-1.4x transferable revenue (Haufe 2025) gives €800k to €1.4m. For a practice that is cleanly set up digitally with a high share of recurring engagements, 1.0-1.2x is realistic, i.e. €1.0-1.2m.

Route 2, EBITDA cross-check: €330k surplus less a €150k notional owner's salary gives adjusted EBITDA of €180k. At 4.1-7.6x (exit-coach.de 2026) that is €740k to €1.37m.

Both methods meet at around €1.0-1.2m. A typical structure for this: about 70% (around €800k) at handover, 30% in two annual instalments linked to client retention (reference value: 80-95% retention with a professional handover, exit-coach.de 2026), with the owner staying on for 18-24 months. All figures are fictitious, and the ranges come from the public sources cited.

The sale process in the sector

For practices, the overall process typically takes 9-18 months from the start of the buyer search to signing, followed by a transition phase of 1-3 years (exit-coach.de 2026). That is longer than in many other sectors, and professional law explains why.

Client engagements are not freely transferable. Your clients are free to choose their adviser, and passing on client data without consent breaches the duty of confidentiality under § 203 StGB, as the BGH made clear in its landmark ruling VIII ZR 84/95. In practice the handover runs through transition letters with the express or implied consent of each client. With a professional set-up, 80-95% of engagements are retained (exit-coach.de 2026). The data handover is regulated twice over: alongside § 203 StGB the GDPR applies, and the BStBK has published its own guidance on handling personal data. DATEV client data transfers only happen after documented consent.

The process itself follows the usual pattern of a company sale, with three sector-specific additions. First, buyer vetting: only professionals may hold shares in tax advisory firms, and since the 9th StBerÄndG the ban on outside ownership applies across the entire indirect ownership chain. The buyer's shareholder structure therefore needs checking before every LOI. Second, chamber obligations: the transfer must be coordinated with the competent chamber of tax advisers, from appointment questions to winding up the practice, and professional indemnity insurance, including run-off cover for past cases, must be settled in the contract. Third, the audit specifics: carrying the audit seal and performing statutory audits require WPK recognition as an audit firm under the WPO. Since 09/2026, practices with an audit arm have a structural demand advantage, but must strictly observe the WPK's ownership and voting rules.

Within the profession the buyer search has traditionally been anonymous, through the chambers' practice exchanges or specialised intermediaries. Discretion here is not a nice-to-have but protects substance: if the sale process becomes known to the team or clients too early, it puts at risk the very retention on which the price depends. In an asset deal your employees transfer automatically under § 613a BGB and, given the shortage of skilled staff, are a central value driver. Buyers examine retention clauses and team stability as closely as the client list.

Typical deal structures

Classic succession purchase with a retention clause. Purchase price of 0.8-1.4x sustainably transferable annual revenue (Haufe 2025; exit-coach.de 2026: 80-150%), of which typically 60-80% at handover and the rest in 1-3 annual instalments (Deubner Steuern 2025/26). The instalments are linked to the client revenue actually retained, and a clawback clause applies if clients leave.

Earn-out with concentrated clients. If the practice depends on a few large clients, an additional purchase price becomes due if the large engagement still exists after 2-3 years (Deubner Steuern 2025/26). For tax purposes the variable parts are only taxed when received, and relief under §§ 16, 34 EStG can be lost for that part (KWM Law / Meyer-Köring 2025).

Transition model. The seller stays on board for 1-3 years as a freelancer or adviser and personally hands over clients and team. In practice this is the strongest lever for client retention and therefore for the final purchase price (exit-coach.de 2026).

Joining a PE consolidator's platform. Cash component plus a reinvestment in the platform (roll-over), continued work over the typical PE holding period of 3-5 years, plus a second payout when the platform itself is sold (IWW Kanzleiführung professionell 2025; Taxdoo 03/2026). Since 01.09.2026 this route is regularly structured through a WPG vehicle.

Choice of structure: asset or share deal. A sole practice can only be transferred by asset deal. For professional partnerships a share deal is possible, with consequences for client consent, § 613a BGB and your tax position as the seller.

For PE investors: the buy-and-build case in brief

The practice market combines the three classic ingredients of a buy-and-build case: extreme fragmentation (59,519 self-employed, BStBK 2025), recurring revenue from ongoing engagements and a demographically driven wave of sellers (45.8% of professionals aged 56+). Supply grows predictably over years while the pipeline of new talent shrinks. That explains why more than €2bn of PE capital has flowed into German platforms in under 18 months (Taxdoo 03/2026).

The multiple arbitrage is clearly visible. Individual add-ons trade at around 1x revenue or 4.1-7.6x adjusted EBITDA (Haufe 2025; exit-coach.de 2026), the DACH lower mid-market spans 4.5x to 9.5x depending on size (CT Acquisitions 2026), and the US reference market values accounting platforms at 10-17x EBITDA, with more than $30bn invested since 2020 (Taxdoo 03/2026). Every cleanly integrated practice is valued higher within a platform than in a standalone sale.

The 9th StBerÄndG acts less as a brake than as a filter. Anyone who masters the WPG route and structures cleanly under the WPK rules buys from September 2026 in a market with less competition on the buy side. The bottleneck shifts from capital to qualifying suitable targets: owner-managed practices with professional substance, an audit arm and digital process maturity, before they end up on a practice exchange or with a competitor. More on how I work on the investor page: For investors.

From my sourcing work

The practice market differs in one respect from every other sector I work in: value depends almost entirely on people and client relationships, not on assets or patents. That is why the second tier decides the price. Who holds the clients when the owner leaves, and how old is that second tier? Practice owners often underestimate how much a documented share of recurring engagements and clean digital processes push the price up in negotiation. My work as a deal origination specialist is to create a fit discreetly, before a practice is officially on the market.

If you are thinking about handing over your practice, whether in two years or only in five, an early and non-binding look at value and the buyer landscape is worthwhile. From the first assessment to a confidential buyer match, the support is discreet and without time pressure.