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Most companies set up or bought in Austria are a GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung), the private limited company of Austrian law, used to trade in Austria, as a German-speaking subsidiary of a foreign group or as a holding. Austria is an EU member state with the euro as its currency, so a GmbH resident there falls under the EU Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives, and Austria adds around 90 comprehensive double taxation agreements on income and capital. Most of them now contain the principal purpose test of the OECD Multilateral Instrument, so treaty relief follows real substance in Austria, not a registered address.
Two institutions frame Austrian company law: the notary, who records the founding deed and every later sale of GmbH shares, and the Firmenbuch, the public companies register kept by the regional courts. A GmbH becomes a legal person only when the Firmenbuch enters it.
| Form | Minimum share capital | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| GmbH | EUR 10,000 of share capital, with at least EUR 5,000 paid in cash before registration | Trading companies, subsidiaries of foreign groups and holdings; the form sold ready-made |
| FlexCo (Flexible Kapitalgesellschaft), available since 1 January 2024 | The same EUR 10,000 of capital, because the GmbH rules apply to it | Start-ups that want to give staff or investors company value shares without votes, below a quarter of the capital |
| AG (Aktiengesellschaft) | EUR 70,000 of share capital | Larger companies; the federal business portal (USP) calls its formation very complex |
A FlexCo is a GmbH with extra tools: each shareholder may contribute as little as EUR 1 of capital instead of EUR 70, and a lawyer, not only a notary, may draw up the deed when its shares are sold. Both forms start with a notarial deed, which can be signed by video link with an Austrian notary. The sequence from the deed to the court entry, the trade licence and the tax office is set out on our page on company formation in Austria.
| Tax | Rate or rule in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Corporate income tax (Körperschaftsteuer) | 23% of taxable profit; a company with its seat or its management in Austria is taxed on all its income |
| Minimum corporate tax | 5% of the statutory minimum capital each year, due quarterly even in a loss year and credited against corporate tax in later profitable years |
| VAT (Umsatzsteuer) | 20% standard; reduced rates of 13%, 10% and 4.9%; small businesses are exempt below a turnover threshold of EUR 55,000 unless they opt out |
| Tax withheld on dividends (Kapitalertragsteuer) | 27.5%; the company may withhold 23% instead where the shareholder is a corporation; tax treaties and, for EU parent companies, the Parent-Subsidiary Directive can lower it |
Austrian company law asks nothing about nationality or residence. Shareholders may be individuals or companies anywhere, and one person may hold every share and also act as the only managing director (Geschäftsführer). A managing director must be an individual with full legal capacity, and a prison sentence of more than six months for listed offences such as fraud or money laundering bars a person from the post for three years.
The residence rule that does exist comes from trade law. Most commercial activity counts as a trade, and a company carrying one on must appoint a managing director under trade law (gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer) who lives in Austria; EEA and Swiss nationals living in the EEA or Switzerland qualify too, as do holders of certain long-term residence titles living there. For a regulated trade that person also needs the professional qualification and must sit in management or work for the company at least half the normal weekly hours with full social insurance.
Beneficial owners, the individuals with more than 25% of the shares or votes or with control by other means, go into the Register der wirtschaftlichen Eigentümer at the Federal Ministry of Finance (WiEReG). It has been closed to the general public since 22 November 2022; authorities, banks and other obliged entities may consult it, and since 1 September 2023 so may applicants with a legitimate interest. A GmbH owned only by individuals holding for themselves reports nothing, as the register copies its shareholders from the Firmenbuch; other companies report through the USP.
An Austrian business account is a euro account with a 20-character IBAN beginning AT, inside the SEPA area. Deposits held by a GmbH or AG are covered up to EUR 100,000 by one of the three recognised Austrian deposit guarantee schemes. A new GmbH deals with a bank before it even exists, because the cash share capital must be credited to an account at an Austrian or EU credit institution, or to the notary’s trust account, and confirmed in writing for the court. Banks differ: some identify the managing director by video, others refuse online opening where the company is managed from abroad or the people involved hold no EU passport. Our page on bank accounts for Austrian companies compares what the banks publish.
For most founders a new GmbH or FlexCo is the plainer route, with their own name and articles from the first day. A ready-made company in Austria, a GmbH registered earlier and kept on the shelf without business, fits narrower cases:
Neither route avoids the notary, and Austria publishes no official registration period that buying would beat. Our page on ready-made shelf companies in Austria explains the share transfer and the filings that follow it, and our guide to off-the-shelf companies compares the two routes across countries.
Our part in Austria: we supply ready-made GmbHs and form new GmbHs and FlexCos, draft the transfer or formation documents for the notary and the Firmenbuch filings, and help put together the bank application; where we have a working contact at a suitable bank we can introduce the company, and the account decision stays with the bank alone.
Yes. In Austria a ready company is called a Vorratsgesellschaft: usually a GmbH, sometimes a FlexCo, founded and capitalised in the ordinary way and then kept without business. Buying one is a share deal: the company keeps its Firmenbuch number, registration date and filing record, while the buyer becomes the registered shareholder and appoints new management. Which companies are on offer varies, so ask us before planning around one.
Usually not. A company that has never traded normally holds no VAT identification number. The tax office issues the UID on request once the company has notified its business and plans to trade with businesses elsewhere in the EU. Until its yearly turnover passes EUR 55,000, the company is exempt as a small business unless it chooses to waive the exemption.
It is an EU company in every sense: resident in a member state, taxed at 23%, banking in euro and covered by the EU Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives. What it asks in return is formality: a notary for the founding deed and for share sales, shareholders named in a public register, and a trade-law managing director living in Austria, the EEA or Switzerland once the company carries on a trade.
Normally not. A shelf GmbH has never carried on business, so it usually holds no trade licence. Once the buyer knows what the company will do, the company registers its own trade, is entered in the GISA trade register and appoints a managing director under trade law who meets the residence rule. A regulated trade also needs that person’s proof of qualification, and buying an existing company replaces none of these steps.
The GmbH first pays 23% corporate tax on its profit. When it distributes a dividend, it withholds capital gains tax (Kapitalertragsteuer) at 27.5%, and it may withhold 23% instead where the shareholder is a corporation. A shareholder abroad may be entitled to a lower rate under one of Austria’s tax treaties, and a parent company in another EU state may rely on the Parent-Subsidiary Directive.
To ask which ready-made Austrian companies are available now, or what a new GmbH or FlexCo would need from you, contact us; we also answer on Telegram and WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.