Doing Business in Austria

The new World Bank “Doing Business” Report ranks Austria under the world’s top 25 jurisdictions again.

In particular, Austria improved some ranks in regard to limited company formation. Our da-to-day experience shows, that the time frame for registering a new Austrian GmbH with the Commercial court was reduced over the last couple of years.

What did not change, however, are the formal requirements for the incorporation of a company in Austria. In particular, if a foreign legal entity intends to acquire the shares in an Austrian ready made company (shelf company), all the corporate documents of the foreign entity need to be presented to the court in Vienna (legalized, Apostilled and translated by a court translator in Austria). Furthermore, there is still no consistent praxis among the court officials in Austria. Especially if the jurisdiction where the buyer of the Austrian shelf company is registered does not have equivalent documents as required in Austria.

Cooperating with local notaries and authorities we can still assure you the quickest registration possible. Over the past years, buyers from all important countries in the world have aquired Austrian shelf companies (ready made companies) from us and we know therefor, which documents will be required for the registration at the court in Vienna.

Please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss details with you.