Austria replaced the former €35,000 minimum with a permanent €10,000 GmbH threshold. This guide separates nominal capital, the €5,000 initial cash payment, the end of Gründungsprivilegierung, and how Austria now sits on the European map.
A new Austrian GmbH can now be formed with statutory capital of €10,000, of which generally €5,000 is paid before registration. It still enters the market as a full GmbH — no warning suffix, no temporary privilege — and remains subject to ordinary accounting and capital-maintenance rules. The entry ticket got cheaper; the obligations did not disappear.
Minimum share capital for a private limited company, 2026. The Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Germany's UG all sit at a symbolic €1 (or a cent). Germany's full GmbH stays at €25,000. Austria chose the middle — low enough to be accessible, high enough to be taken seriously.
Indicative 2026 minimums. Several €1 jurisdictions attach a profit-reserve requirement until capital reaches a set level (e.g. €3,000 in Spain, €10,000 in Italy, €25,000 for the German UG). Confirm current rules before relying on any figure.
A €1 company is easy to register and hard to bank — it signals nothing about funding. Austria's €10,000 keeps the GmbH name credible with banks and counterparties while removing the €35,000 barrier that used to deter service and software businesses. It is a deliberate "accessible but real" position, not a race to the bottom.
From 1 January 2024 the minimum Stammkapital of an Austrian GmbH fell from €35,000 to €10,000. The change applied to the ordinary GmbH itself rather than creating a separate low-capital form, so the company still uses the plain GmbH designation with no suffix warning that it was incorporated under a reduced-capital regime. This is the key difference from the German UG (haftungsbeschränkt), which does carry a distinct name.
€10,000 is now the standard rule, not a temporary concession. A new GmbH no longer needs a special Gründungsprivilegierung clause to reach the lower level.
Under the old rule a GmbH had €35,000 nominal capital — often disproportionate for consulting, software and professional-services businesses with no heavy assets at launch. Austria softened this with Gründungsprivilegierung, which let a qualifying new GmbH begin under a lower contribution framework for a limited period.
It worked, but it was awkward: it created two layers — the nominal capital in the documents and the lower privileged amount actually governing contributions — and it was temporary, so the company eventually had to align, producing future amendments, notarial work and register changes. Once the general minimum itself became €10,000, a separate privilege at the same level lost its purpose.
The articles allocate the €10,000 among the shareholders through their Stammeinlagen. Two equal shareholders might take €5,000 each; a 70/30 split, €7,000 and €3,000. Voting, profit rights and vesting can require more drafting than simply dividing the number — especially with investors.
Nominal capital is the amount stated in the articles and allocated among shareholders — minimum €10,000. Paid-in capital is what is actually contributed before registration — generally at least €5,000. A company can therefore have €10,000 nominal with only €5,000 paid; the other €5,000 is not cancelled — it stays an outstanding shareholder contribution that matters in insolvency, creditor protection and share transfers.
After registration the GmbH can generally use the capital for legitimate business expenditure — rent, software, salaries, professional fees, inventory. It need not sit untouched in the formation account, but it must stay within the company's sphere. What a shareholder cannot do is simply withdraw it: payments back to shareholders must satisfy Austrian capital-maintenance rules, need distributable profit and proper approval, and unlawful returns of protected capital can create repayment claims.
The statutory minimum changed, but an existing company keeps the capital recorded in its articles and the Firmenbuch until it is formally changed. A €35,000 GmbH stays a €35,000 GmbH — reducing it is a separate corporate procedure, not a bank withdrawal or a spreadsheet edit.
The capital may not be reduced below the current statutory minimum of €10,000.
Austrian corporations can owe a minimum corporate income tax even with little or no profit, calculated by reference to the statutory minimum capital. With a €10,000 base, the annual minimum Körperschaftsteuer is generally €500 (about €125 per quarter). It is not the same as the ordinary 23% corporate income tax — where the profit-based tax is higher, that larger figure applies.
€10,000 minimum capital × 5% = €500 minimum annual tax. Lowering the capital floor from €35,000 also pulled the minimum-tax base down with it.
A German GmbH has €25,000 statutory capital, with at least €12,500 generally paid before registration. Germany also offers the lower-capital UG — but, unlike the Austrian GmbH, the UG carries a distinct designation and a statutory profit-reserve mechanism. Austria's move gives you a full, plainly-named GmbH at less than half Germany's capital.
The reform lowered the legal threshold; it did not finance the business until revenue is stable. €5,000 may be plenty for a founder-led consultancy and far too little for a trading or staffing company. Match the funding to the operating model, not to the law's floor.
Most errors come from treating nominal capital, cash paid, company liquidity and shareholder liability as though they were one number.
€5,000 is the initial cash payment. The nominal capital remains €10,000.
The outstanding €5,000 can still be called and stays relevant to the shareholder's position.
After registration the funds may be used for legitimate business expenditure.
Company money cannot be returned to shareholders outside capital-maintenance rules.
An existing €35,000 GmbH needs a formal reduction to change the registered amount.
The statutory amount may not cover payroll, stock, licensing or first-year costs.
Shareholders, directors, capital, notary, Firmenbuch and tax.
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CompareSend the ownership, activity, expected first-year expenses and intended funding. We identify the appropriate nominal capital, initial payment and financing route for the Austrian GmbH.