Customs questioned 3,300 salon staff in one Saturday. Here are the papers every salon in Germany should have ready
On 26 September around 2,200 customs officers inspected hairdressers, barbershops, nail and beauty studios across Germany. Hundreds of proceedings followed, many of them for missing registrations and ID documents rather than for undeclared work.
What happened
The Directorate General of Customs published the results on 29 September 2026 (press release via Presseportal). On Saturday 26 September, around 2,200 officers inspected hairdressers, barbershops, nail and beauty studios across Germany. They questioned more than 3,300 employees and checked business records almost 700 times. On the spot they opened around 340 criminal proceedings, including about 160 for illegal residence and almost 70 for withholding social security contributions. Around 650 administrative proceedings cover unauthorised employment of foreign nationals, missed immediate registrations and staff not carrying or presenting ID. In more than 1,500 cases, customs found indications of further breaches and is now comparing them against payroll and tax records. Customs points out that hairdressing and cosmetics were added in 2026 to the catalogue of industries prone to undeclared work; that list sits in section 2a of the Undeclared Work Act (SchwarzArbG). The statutory minimum wage has been €13.90 gross per hour since 1 January 2026. Constanze Voß, head of the FKS: "Wir wollen präventiv wirken und ehrliche Betriebe schützen." Customs adds that on-site checks are often only the starting point for further investigations.
What this means for you
Being on the section 2a list means your salon is now treated like a restaurant or a building site on three points. Immediate registration: every new employee, minijobs included, must be reported to the pension insurance before or at the start of the first shift, not with the next payroll run (section 28a(4) SGB IV). ID: staff must carry their ID card or passport at work and show it to customs on request (section 2a SchwarzArbG). Hours: for staff in these sectors you must record start, end and duration of every shift, written up within seven days at the latest, and keep those records for two years (section 17(1) Minimum Wage Act, MiLoG). On top of that, every hour must be paid at least €13.90. The message from this operation is that an honest salon with sloppy paperwork can still end up with a fine, and customs is now following up on more than 1,500 cases from this one Saturday.
What you can do
Four steps:
- ✓Check that every person on your team, minijobbers included, has an immediate registration on file from before their first shift (section 28a(4) SGB IV).
- ✓Tell staff to keep their ID card or passport in the salon; a copy in your files helps you, but they still need the original on them (section 2a SchwarzArbG).
- ✓Keep hours records current: start, end and duration per shift, written up within seven days, stored for two years (section 17(1) MiLoG).
- ✓Ask your tax adviser or payroll office for a one-hour check of these points plus the €13.90 minimum on every payslip.
Common questions
Does this apply if I only have one minijobber?
Yes. Immediate registration, ID and hours records apply to minijobs too, and the minimum wage applies to every hour. One employee is enough to be inspected, and a missing immediate registration counts as an administrative offence regardless of the size of the salon.
Can customs come without an appointment?
Yes. FKS inspections are unannounced and take place during opening hours, including Saturdays, as this operation shows. Officers may question staff, ask for ID and look at records. You do not need everything in one binder, but you must be able to show it.
What happens if my papers are incomplete?
Missing immediate registrations, ID documents or hours records are administrative offences that can be fined even if nobody is working illegally. Where records suggest wages below €13.90 or unpaid social contributions, customs follows up with payroll and tax records, which is what is happening in over 1,500 cases from this operation.
Luca Bonura started selling online at 17 and funded his first business with 4:30am shifts in a bakery. He built his own product brand, watched it fail, and rebuilt as a freelance performance marketer for everyone from small shops to HelloFresh. Seeing how hard growth is even for people inside the industry, he founded Adlarion. He writes The Small Business Digest in plain English: the news he wished he'd had when starting out.
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