Capital contribution and banking process

Information about starting a private limited company electronically and payment of the associated capital contribution

Capital contribution and share capital

When a private limited company or other limited company is set up, its share capital must be determined; this forms the basis of the company's assets. A private limited company (GmbH) must have at least 35,000 Euro in share capital or 10,000 Euro if it is given a start-up privilege. The shareholders each pay a particular capital contribution. When a corporation is started electronically, the capital contribution is paid during the banking process.

However, the share capital and capital contributions do not have to be paid in full on start-up. It is both legal, and common practice, to contribute half of the share capital to begin with, in other words 17,500 Euro, or 5,000 Euro if using the start-up privilege.

Caution

In general, these rules also apply to entrepreneurs from EU Member States in Austria.

The banking process for e-start-up

The banking process is essential for electronic start-up of a single-person private limited company. The bank sends the following documents directly to the companies register as part of this process:

Bank confirmation
The person starting the company must pay the capital contribution to a bank. The bank sends the companies register confirmation that the capital contribution has been paid.
Proof of identity and specimen signature
The bank checks the person's identity with identity documents and gets him or her to produce a specimen signature. These documents are scanned and also sent to the companies register.

Please note

Not every bank carries out the banking process. Please ask your bank directly!

The banking process for e-start-up is currently offered by the following institutions

Bank Austria/Unicredit^{German text}
BAWAG P.S.K.^{German text}
BKS Bank AG^{German text}
easybank^{German text}
Erste Bank^{German text}
Niederösterreichische Raiffeisenbanken^{German text}
Oberbank AG^{German text}
Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien^{German text}
Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark AG^{German text}
Raiffeisen Oberösterreich^{German text}
Volksbank^{German text}
Volkskreditbank^{German text}

Tip

The start-up privilege can also be used for electronic start-up. In this case, the capital contribution of each shareholder is 10,000 Euro, 5,000 Euro of which must be paid. By the end of the start-up privilege, after ten years, the payment must be increased to 17,500 Euro.

Translated by the European Commission

Last update: 11 April 2022

Responsible for the content: Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs