The two routes: notarial deed or § 9a electronic founding
Setting up a GmbH in Austria takes three steps: articles signed as a notarial deed, share capital paid in at a bank, and an application to the Firmenbuch, the companies register, where the company comes into existence on entry. A simplified electronic route under § 9a GmbHG is open to one natural person as sole shareholder and sole managing director.
The steps, in the order they are taken:
- Sign the articles as a notarial deed, or make the § 9a declaration of establishment electronically.
- Pay in the share capital at a credit institution and obtain its written confirmation.
- File the Firmenbuch application, signed by all managing directors, and pay the court fees.
- Notify Finanzamt Österreich within one month of starting business activity.
- Notify the trade where the activity needs a licence; the entry in GISA follows.
- Complete the follow-on registrations: SVS insurance, WKO membership and, once wages are paid, municipal tax.
The two routes part at step 1 and meet again at the register.
On the notarial route the articles (Gesellschaftsvertrag) take the form of a notarial deed, which may also be executed electronically by an electronic means of communication under § 69b of the Notaries Act (Notariatsordnung) (§ 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG). Every GmbH that does not meet the § 9a conditions goes this way.
The § 9a route, which the federal business service portal USP calls eGründung, requires a single shareholder who is a natural person and at the same time the sole managing director, a bank that performs the identity check and transmission in § 9a Abs. 6 and 7, and share capital of exactly EUR 10,000, of which EUR 5,000 is paid in cash.
A GmbH holding in Austria owned by a foreign parent company therefore takes the notarial route, because its only shareholder is not a natural person.
The formation service itself, on either route, is described on our GmbH Austria page.
Step 1: the articles or the declaration of establishment
The articles must state the firm and the seat, the object of the business, the amount of the share capital and each shareholder's contribution (§ 4 Abs. 1 GmbHG). The seat must be a place where the company has an operation, its management or its administration; the articles may depart from this only for good cause (§ 5 Abs. 2 GmbHG).
A founder who does not sign in person can act through a proxy. The proxy needs a special, notarially certified power of attorney issued for that single transaction, and it is attached to the deed (§ 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG).
The Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO) publish indicative notary or lawyer drafting costs, which are estimates and not a tariff: about EUR 100–150 for a one-person GmbH whose declaration keeps to the statutory minimum content, about EUR 500–1,000 with additional clauses, and at least EUR 2,000 with two or more shareholders (WKO, formation costs).
On the § 9a route the declaration of establishment is limited to the statutory minimum content and the appointment of the managing director. It may add reimbursement of formation costs up to EUR 500 and a clause on the appropriation of profit.
The declaration needs no notarial deed: it is made electronically, in a way that identifies the shareholder beyond doubt (§ 9a Abs. 3 and 4 GmbHG). How the electronic route runs as a service is set out under online GmbH formation in Austria.
Two routes to one register entry
Notarial route, § 4 GmbHG
- Who: every GmbH that does not meet the § 9a conditions
- Articles: notarial deed, in person, electronically under § 69b NO, or by a proxy with a special certified power of attorney
- Capital: at least EUR 10,000; at least EUR 5,000 in cash before registration, §§ 6, 10
- Application: signed by all managing directors, in certified form, § 9
§ 9a route (eGründung)
- Who: one natural person, sole shareholder and sole managing director
- Declaration: electronic, no notarial deed; formation costs reimbursable up to EUR 500
- Capital: exactly EUR 10,000, EUR 5,000 in cash
- Bank: checks identity in person and sends the documents to the Firmenbuch
- Application: electronic, no certified form, § 9a Abs. 5
Both routes
Step 2: depositing the share capital
On the notarial route the general capital rules apply. The minimum share capital (Stammkapital) is EUR 10,000, and each shareholder's contribution (Stammeinlage) must be at least EUR 70 (§ 6 Abs. 1 GmbHG). The EUR 10,000 minimum applies since 1 January 2024; before that date it was EUR 35,000.
Not all of the cash has to be in place before registration. Under § 10 Abs. 1 GmbHG, at least one quarter of each cash contribution must be paid in, at least EUR 70 per contribution and at least EUR 5,000 in total. The § 9a route fixes the figures instead: EUR 10,000, of which EUR 5,000 in cash.
The amount called up may be paid only to a credit institution: into an account of the company or of the managing directors at their free disposal, or into a notary's escrow account (Anderkonto) for transfer after registration (§ 10 Abs. 2 GmbHG).
The application to the register must declare that the cash contributions are paid in and freely available. The proof is always a written confirmation of a credit institution or of the notary as trustee, and the bank or notary is liable to the company for its accuracy (§ 10 Abs. 3 GmbHG).
Managing directors are personally and jointly liable for damage caused by false statements; the claims lapse five years after registration (§ 10 Abs. 4 and 5 GmbHG).
On the § 9a route the bank does more. It verifies the founder's identity in person against an official photo ID under § 6 FM-GwG, even for an existing customer, and takes the specimen signature.
After a waiver of banking secrecy it sends the bank confirmation, the ID copy and the specimen signature directly and electronically to the Firmenbuch, where they count as originals (§ 9a Abs. 6 to 8 GmbHG).
USP lists the banks offering this procedure: Bank Austria/UniCredit, BAWAG, BKS Bank, easybank, Erste Bank, Oberbank, Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien, Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Raiffeisen Oberösterreich, Volksbank and Volkskreditbank.
The account and the confirmation, as a service, are covered under GmbH bank account in Austria.
Step 3: filing with the Firmenbuch
The register entry follows only on an application signed by all managing directors, with the articles in notarial issue and the appointment documents in certified form; the signatures are made before the court or submitted in certified form (§ 9 GmbHG). On the § 9a route the application needs no certified form and is filed electronically (§ 9a Abs. 5 GmbHG).
The WKO checklist of enclosures names the articles or declaration in notarial issue, the list of shareholders, the list of managing directors, the appointment resolution, the specimen signatures, the bank confirmation and, where relevant, a chamber opinion on the company name (WKO, the GmbH).
The GmbH comes into existence only on its entry in the register. If the file is defective, the court issues an order to remedy (Verbesserungsauftrag) or rejects the application (USP start-up roadmap for the GmbH).
Court fees for a GmbH's first registration, in force from 1 August 2026 under Tarifpost 10 Z I of the Court Fees Act as adjusted by BGBl. II Nr. 227/2026: an application fee (Eingabengebühr) of EUR 47 plus a registration fee (Eintragungsgebühr) of EUR 475, EUR 522 in total (Court Fees Act, GGG).
Filing on paper rather than by electronic legal communication adds EUR 24 to the application fee. The application fee is due once per filing, however many requests it contains, and is owed whatever the outcome.
The GmbH that serves as general partner of a GmbH & Co KG in Austria is formed by these steps. The KG's own first registration carries EUR 47 plus EUR 169, EUR 216 in total, under the same tariff.
Not sure how this applies to your GmbH?
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Step 4: registering for tax
The start of business activity and the business location must be notified to Finanzamt Österreich within one month. An informal written notice is enough, and the tax number (Steuernummer) can be requested at the same time, together with the VAT identification number (UID-Nummer) if trade within the EU is planned (USP start-up roadmap).
For a GmbH the questionnaire filed with the tax registration is form Verf 15; the UID is issued ex officio when that questionnaire is filed and the tax number is assigned, and form U 15 is the separate UID application where the questionnaire route does not apply (USP, the UID).
The UID does not follow automatically from incorporation. A decision published in the Federal Ministry of Finance's Findok database confirms that it is refused where the applicant is not an entrepreneur. The registrations as a service are covered under the GmbH's tax number and UID.
Once the GmbH pays wages at an Austrian permanent establishment, municipal tax (Kommunalsteuer) is owed to each municipality where it has an establishment. A tax account is opened in each of those municipalities on a written application, and in Vienna an employer levy (Dienstgeberabgabe) is payable on top (USP, municipal tax).
Step 5: the trade licence, if the activity needs one
A GmbH needs a trade licence in its own name; a shareholder's licence is not enough, and the company must appoint a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer, the managing director responsible under trade law (WKO, the GmbH). The entry in the Firmenbuch does not replace the licence.
Every trade the Trade Code does not expressly list as regulated is a free trade (freies Gewerbe) and needs no certificate of competence. A regulated trade (reglementiertes Gewerbe) needs a certificate of competence (Befähigungsnachweis), and the "§ 95 trades" also produce a declaratory decision (Feststellungsbescheid).
An application for a finding of individual competence, where the formal qualification is missing, is free of charge.
The trade is entered in the Trade Information System Austria (GISA) within three months of a legally effective notification, and the GISA extract is the proof of the licence.
Where the conditions are met, GISA-Express releases the authorisations electronically and at once. No stamp duties or federal administrative charges are payable on the notification (USP, trade notification). The licence as a service: GmbH trade licence in Austria.
Two further obligations follow from the licence. Managing shareholders are compulsorily insured for sickness, pension and accident from the day of the trade notification, if the company holds a licence and is a WKO member. The start must be notified within one month to the social insurance fund for the self-employed (SVS) or the trade authority.
USP summarises the bands: up to 25 % of the shares, insurance as an employee (ASVG); more than 25 % up to 50 % with a controlling influence, no ASVG; above 50 %, never ASVG, therefore GSVG.
WKO membership follows automatically from the licence and is financed by Kammerumlage 1, Kammerumlage 2 and the Grundumlage, whose rates were cut Austria-wide from 1 January 2024.
NeuFöG: fee relief for a genuine new business
The New Business Promotion Act (Neugründungs-Förderungsgesetz, NeuFöG) removes, for a qualifying new business (§ 1 NeuFöG):
- stamp duties and federal administrative charges;
- real-estate transfer tax on land contributed against shares;
- court fees for Firmenbuch entries under Tarifpost 10 Z I GGG;
- land-register fees and capital duty;
- for employees: the employer's FLAF contribution, housing-promotion contribution, accident-insurance contributions and chamber levy.
The employee relief runs for the month of formation and the following 35 calendar months, covers each employee's first month and the next eleven, and from the twelfth month after formation applies only to the first three employees.
A formation qualifies when it creates a genuinely new operational structure, by an owner who has not previously controlled a comparable business. A mere change of legal form or of owner does not qualify, nor does expansion by taking over existing businesses in the first twelve months (§ 2 NeuFöG).
The declaration form (NeuFö 2) must be produced before or at the same time as the relief is claimed, in original to each authority; filing it later brings no refund (USP start-up roadmap).
For the court fees there is one tolerance: they are also waived if the form reaches the court within 14 days of the registration application, provided the application expressly claimed the relief (Tarifpost 10, Anm. 8 GGG). A WKO consultation confirmation (Beratungsbestätigung) is required as well (WKO, formation costs).
Foreign documents: certification and translation
A founder abroad can take part in the notarial step without travelling: the deed may be executed electronically under § 69b NO, or a proxy may sign on a special, notarially certified power of attorney for that single transaction (§ 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG). For the register, appointment documents are filed in certified form and signatures are certified (§ 9 GmbHG).
Two neighbouring Austrian procedures show how foreign paperwork is treated. For a branch of a foreign company, USP requires the home-register extract and the articles certified and translated. For residence-title applications, documents come in original and copy, translated into German or English if written in another language, and the authority may require legalisation (Migration portal of the Austrian government).
From our practice. When the register court sends a formation file back with an order to remedy, the cause is typically a foreign document that is out of date or untranslated, or an object of the business that does not match the trade to be notified.
A first-year budget that lists the notary, the court fees and the business address as separate items shows the full cost before the first filing.
Which document takes which form
- ArticlesNotarial deed: in person, electronically under § 69b NO, or by a proxy on a special certified power of attorney, § 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG
- Capital proofWritten confirmation of a credit institution or of the notary as trustee, § 10 Abs. 3
- Register applicationSigned by all managing directors, appointment documents certified, § 9; on the § 9a route electronic, no certified form
- Foreign documentsAs neighbouring procedures ask: certified and translated, into German or English, legalised if the authority requires it
Realistic total timeline
No official processing time is published for the Firmenbuch entry, so this guide gives no total duration. What the law fixes are deadlines that run from events in the procedure, and the fees due at each step.
The GmbH formation steps at a glance, with the deadlines and fees the law sets.
| Step | Who | Legal basis | Fee or deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Articles, notarial route | Shareholders before a notary | § 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG | Notary costs: WKO estimates only |
| Declaration, § 9a route | Sole shareholder, electronically | § 9a Abs. 3, 4 GmbHG | Formation costs reimbursable up to EUR 500 |
| Capital deposit | Credit institution or notary as trustee | §§ 6, 10 GmbHG | At least EUR 5,000 cash of EUR 10,000 before registration |
| Firmenbuch application | All managing directors | § 9 GmbHG, TP 10 Z I GGG | EUR 522 (EUR 47 + EUR 475); EUR 24 more on paper |
| NeuFöG form to the court | Founder | TP 10 Anm. 8 GGG | Within 14 days of the application |
| Tax registration | GmbH, to Finanzamt Österreich | USP start-up roadmap | Within one month of starting business |
| Trade notification | GmbH, to the trade authority | USP, GISA | GISA entry within three months |
| SVS notification | Managing shareholder | USP start-up roadmap | Within one month of starting the trade |
Source: Austrian Federal Legal Information System: GmbHG §§ 4, 6, 9, 9a, 10; Court Fees Act (GGG), Tarifpost 10, values from 1 August 2026. USP start-up roadmap and trade notification page; WKO formation costs. Consulted September 2026.
Two things move the register step. A WKO opinion on the proposed company name, filed with the court, may speed registration up; an order to remedy sends the file back to the founders.
The company exists from its entry; the tax and insurance deadlines run from the start of business activity and the GISA entry from the trade notification, not from the date of the deed.
Sources
The rules on this page are taken from these official sources, consulted in September 2026:
- Austrian Federal Legal Information System (RIS), GmbH Act (GmbHG), consolidated version: § 4, § 5, § 6, § 9, § 9a and § 10.
- RIS, Court Fees Act (GGG), Tarifpost 10 Z I, values in force from 1 August 2026 (BGBl. II Nr. 227/2026).
- RIS, New Business Promotion Act (NeuFöG), § 1 and § 2.
- USP, the federal business service portal: start-up roadmap for the GmbH and FlexCo, trade notification, municipal tax, the UID, and its pages on share capital and the bank procedure, the GmbH, and branches.
- Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO): the GmbH, formation costs, and chamber levies.
- Federal Ministry of Finance, Findok: the decision on refusal of a UID for lack of entrepreneur status.
- Migration portal of the Austrian government: documents for residence-title applications.
FAQ
Does a GmbH need a notary in Austria?
On the notarial route, yes: the articles must take the form of a notarial deed under § 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG, which may also be executed electronically under § 69b NO. The exception is § 9a GmbHG: a single natural person who is sole shareholder and sole managing director makes an electronic declaration instead, with no notarial deed.
Can a foreigner own a GmbH in Austria?
The formation conditions in this guide, taken from §§ 4, 9, 9a and 10 GmbHG, concern the form of the articles, the capital, the bank confirmation and the signatures; nationality is not among them. A founder abroad can have the deed executed electronically under § 69b NO or sign through a proxy with a special certified power of attorney.
How long does it take to set up a GmbH in Austria?
No official processing time is published for the Firmenbuch entry, and the company exists only from that entry. A defective file brings an order to remedy or a rejection. The fixed durations are deadlines that follow: one month to notify Finanzamt Österreich, one month for SVS, and GISA entry within three months of the trade notification.
Does Austria have a VAT?
Yes. A GmbH that plans trade within the EU can request its VAT identification number, the UID-Nummer, when it first registers with Finanzamt Österreich, together with its tax number. The UID is not automatic: a published decision confirms it is refused where the applicant is not an entrepreneur. Rates and returns are outside this guide.
What is the official business register in Austria?
The Firmenbuch, the Austrian companies register. A GmbH is entered on an application signed by all its managing directors under § 9 GmbHG, and it comes into existence only with that entry. A trade licence is recorded separately, in the Trade Information System Austria (GISA), and the register entry does not replace it.
Can someone else sign the articles for me?
Yes, a proxy can sign the notarial deed. Under § 4 Abs. 3 GmbHG the proxy needs a special, notarially certified power of attorney issued for that single transaction, and the power of attorney is attached to the deed. The deed may also be executed electronically under § 69b NO, which avoids travelling to a notary's office.
What is a GmbH in Austria?
The GmbH, Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, is the Austrian company with limited liability under the GmbH Act (GmbHG). Its minimum share capital has been EUR 10,000 since 1 January 2024; before that date it was EUR 35,000. It comes into existence on its entry in the Firmenbuch, the Austrian companies register.
How quickly can a company be set up?
Some parts of the procedure are fast by design. On the § 9a route the bank sends the confirmation, ID copy and specimen signature to the Firmenbuch electronically, and GISA-Express releases trade authorisations at once where the conditions are met. The register entry itself has no published processing time, so no overall figure can be given.
How can I get confirmation of registration in Austria?
For the company, the entry in the Firmenbuch is the event that creates the GmbH, so the register entry is the confirmation of its existence. For the trade, the GISA extract is the proof of the licence. Tax registration with Finanzamt Österreich produces the company's tax number and, where requested and granted, its UID.
How much are the court fees for registering a GmbH?
From 1 August 2026, a GmbH's first registration costs an application fee of EUR 47 plus a registration fee of EUR 475, EUR 522 in total, under Tarifpost 10 Z I of the Court Fees Act. Filing on paper instead of electronically adds EUR 24. The application fee is owed whatever the outcome of the application.
Can the court fees be waived for a new GmbH?
Yes, under the NeuFöG for a genuinely new business. The NeuFö 2 form must be produced before or at the same time as the relief is claimed. For court fees it may also reach the court within 14 days of the application, if the application expressly claimed the relief. A WKO consultation confirmation is required.
Who has to sign the Firmenbuch application?
All managing directors. Under § 9 GmbHG the application is signed by every managing director, with the articles in notarial issue and the appointment documents in certified form, and signatures are made before the court or submitted certified. On the § 9a route the application needs no certified form and is filed electronically.
Does every GmbH need a trade licence?
Only where its activity is a trade. The licence must then be held in the company's own name, since a shareholder's licence is not enough, and the GmbH appoints a managing director responsible under trade law. The Firmenbuch entry does not replace the licence, and the trade is entered in GISA within three months of notification.
Related service
GmbH formation in Austria. Both routes, from the articles to the register entry, handled for the founder: GmbH Austria.
Online GmbH formation. The § 9a route for a sole shareholder who is also sole managing director: online GmbH formation in Austria.
Share capital explained. Read GmbH Share Capital in Austria: Stammkapital and Stammeinlage.