The business register in Austria is the Firmenbuch (Business Register), a public register kept by the commercial courts under the Federal Ministry of Justice and queried online through JustizOnline. It consists of the Hauptbuch (main register) of entries and the Urkundensammlung (collection of documents), and anyone is entitled to inspect both. Trade licences are kept in a separate register, the Gewerbeinformationssystem Austria — GISA (Austrian Business Licence Information System), so a small sole trader may appear in GISA without appearing in the Firmenbuch at all.

The company registry in Austria

The Firmenbuch is governed by the Firmenbuchgesetz — FBG (Business Register Act) and by the Unternehmensgesetzbuch — UGB (Business Enterprise Code). It is maintained by the Landesgerichte (regional courts) acting as Firmenbuchgerichte (business register courts), including the Handelsgericht Wien (Commercial Court of Vienna) and the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen Graz. The data are held in a single central database, and the document collections of all register courts are kept electronically.

Entries are queried either directly through JustizOnline or through Verrechnungsstellen (clearing agencies) commissioned by the Ministry of Justice; the extracts obtained through either channel are identical in content, while a certified extract as a public document is issued by a Bezirksgericht (district court) or by a notary. Every Austrian notary is obliged to maintain the technical facilities for register queries and to grant anyone inspection.

Sole traders: Firmenbuch or GISA

Registration of sole traders is conditional rather than universal. Under section 8 of the UGB, a natural person carrying on a business is required to register in the Firmenbuch if subject to the accounting duty under section 189 of the UGB, which applies above an annual turnover threshold of EUR 700,000; other sole traders may register voluntarily, and a voluntary entry can be deleted on application. Members of the liberal professions, farmers and foresters and taxpayers accounting on a cash basis are outside the accounting duty and therefore outside the registration requirement. A registered sole trader must use the suffix eingetragener Unternehmer / eingetragene Unternehmerin (registered entrepreneur), abbreviated e.U.. Where several persons run a business as a Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts — GesbR (civil-law partnership) and the threshold is exceeded, they must register the business as an OG or KG.

GISA is a distinct register with a distinct purpose: it records the Gewerbeberechtigung (trade licence) and its holders under the Gewerbeordnung 1994 (Trade Act 1994), and is queried at gisa.gv.at. Associations are in yet another register, the Zentrales Vereinsregister — ZVR (Central Register of Associations) kept under the Vereinsgesetz 2002 (Associations Act 2002).

Legal forms that can be registered in Austria

Section 2 of the Firmenbuchgesetz contains an exhaustive list of the entities entered in the main register:

  • Eingetragener Unternehmer — e.U. (Registered sole trader) — the owner is liable with his entire private assets; used by one-person businesses above the accounting threshold or registering voluntarily.
  • Offene Gesellschaft — OG (General partnership) — at least two partners, all jointly and severally liable without limitation; open to any lawful purpose, including liberal professions and agriculture.
  • Kommanditgesellschaft — KG (Limited partnership) — general partners are unlimitedly liable, limited partners only up to the liability amount entered in the register, which is extinguished once the contribution has been paid. The GmbH & Co KG is a common variant.
  • Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung — GmbH (Limited liability company) — only the company’s assets are liable to creditors; since 1 January 2024 the minimum share capital is EUR 10,000, with a minimum individual contribution of EUR 70. This is the most common Austrian corporate form.
  • Flexible Kapitalgesellschaft — FlexKapG, also FlexCo (Flexible company) — introduced with effect from 1 January 2024 by the Flexible-Kapitalgesellschafts-Gesetz (Flexible Company Act). A capital company to which GmbH rules apply subsidiarily, with a minimum individual contribution of EUR 1, simplified transfer formalities, Unternehmenswert-Anteile (enterprise value shares) of up to just under a quarter of the share capital and conditional capital increases for employee participation. Designed for start-ups.
  • Aktiengesellschaft — AG (Stock corporation) — shareholders are not personally liable; minimum share capital EUR 70,000. Used by large and listed companies.
  • Erwerbs- und Wirtschaftsgenossenschaft (Registered cooperative) — a legal person with open membership promoting its members’ business; the type of members’ liability and the liability amount are themselves registered facts.
  • Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit (Mutual insurance association) — the mutual form used in the insurance sector, with sector-specific register entries.
  • Sparkasse (Savings bank) — a sector-specific credit institution registered in the Firmenbuch.
  • Privatstiftung (Private foundation) — a legal person with dedicated assets and its seat in Austria, coming into existence only on registration; minimum dedicated assets EUR 70,000. Used for asset holding and succession planning.
  • Europäische wirtschaftliche Interessenvereinigung — EWIV (European Economic Interest Grouping) — a cross-border cooperation vehicle under EU law, to which partnership rules apply subsidiarily and whose members are unlimitedly liable.
  • Europäische Gesellschaft — SE (European Company) and Europäische Genossenschaft — SCE (European Cooperative Society) — the EU-law corporate and cooperative forms, with shareholders or members not personally liable.
  • Zweigniederlassung (Branch of a foreign entity) — under section 12 of the UGB, a legal entity whose seat is abroad must be entered in the Firmenbuch if it has a domestic branch; the entry records the branch’s activity, the entity’s personal statute and, where its home law provides for one, the foreign register and registration number.
  • Sonstige Rechtsträger (Other entities whose registration is provided for by law) — a statutory catch-all category.

Two structures are deliberately absent. The stille Gesellschaft (silent partnership) is a purely internal arrangement in which only the owner of the business acquires rights and obligations, and it is not one of the registrable entities; the GesbR (civil-law partnership) has no legal personality and is likewise not registrable, which is why the UGB requires it to convert into an OG or KG when the accounting threshold is crossed. The Verein (association) belongs to the Central Register of Associations, not the Firmenbuch; if it converts into a cooperative, its former association number is carried into the Firmenbuch.

Information available from the Firmenbuch

Austria’s company register is fully public. Section 9 of the UGB provides that everyone is entitled to inspect the main register and the documents filed in the collection of documents, and to demand printouts of both. Section 34 of the Firmenbuchgesetz allows anyone to make individual queries by automated data transmission, with electronic extracts certified by the electronic signature of the judiciary.

A free short information service must be offered for individual queries and contains the company name and legal form, the seat, business address and register state, the register number and the European Unique Identifier (EUID), the website address if registered, entries on insolvency, dissolution and liquidation, the branch of business, the name and date of birth of the sole trader or of the persons authorised to represent the entity together with the start and type of their authority, liquidators, and branches.

A full extract adds the remaining registered facts: the date of the articles of association or statutes, holders of commercial powers of attorney, the duration of the entity, enforcement restrictions and business-transfer events, and, for corporations, the supervisory board, the amount of the share capital and its increases and reductions, the filing date and balance-sheet date of annual and consolidated accounts, mergers, demergers and conversions, and listing status. Extracts also show the EUID and the identification number used by the national bank. Beyond the main register, the collection of documents holds every instrument on which an entry is based, and annual accounts filed under section 277 of the UGB are publicly inspectable, with reduced content for small and micro companies.

What is restricted

The main restriction lies outside the Firmenbuch itself. The Register der wirtschaftlichen Eigentümer (Register of Beneficial Owners), established by the Wirtschaftliche Eigentümer Registergesetz — WiEReG (Beneficial Owners Register Act) and administered by the Federal Ministry of Finance, was open to public inspection until 31 August 2023. Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 22 November 2022 in joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, which invalidated the EU-law basis for public access on privacy grounds, section 10 of the WiEReG was replaced with effect from 1 September 2023 and is now headed “inspection where a legitimate interest exists”. General public access no longer exists. Inspection is available to anti-money-laundering obliged entities such as banks, lawyers, notaries, auditors, tax advisers and real-estate agents; to authorities; to the entity itself; and to persons who demonstrate a legitimate interest, which is presumed for journalists, academics and civil-society organisations with an anti-money-laundering nexus and for a person intending to enter into a business relationship with the entity. A beneficial owner may additionally apply to have his data suppressed in extracts where exceptional circumstances justify it.

Access to GISA is likewise tiered: some data must be disclosed to everyone, some only where a legitimate interest is credibly shown, and some may not be disclosed at all, with place of birth, nationality, residence and social-security number excluded from the public query. In the Firmenbuch itself, the nationality and country of residence of registered natural persons without an active domestic registration are supplied with the application but are not entered in the register, being passed only to the statistical office.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Firmenbuchauszug, aktuell (Current business register extract) — all data current at the query date: register number, company name, legal form, seat and business address, branch of business, branches, date of the articles of association, representatives and holders of commercial powers of attorney with their dates of birth and type of authority, capital, and, for corporations, the supervisory board and the filing dates of annual accounts. The standard proof of existence, legal form and signing authority for banks, counterparties, tenders, notarial deeds and know-your-customer checks.
  • Firmenbuchauszug, historisch (Historic business register extract) — contains all data ever entered, with superseded entries shown struck through; deleted entities are included on special request. Used for due diligence, litigation and reconstruction of corporate history.
  • Urkundensammlung (Collection of documents) — printouts of every document on the basis of which an entry was made, including certified translations into an official EU language where these have been filed. Used to obtain the underlying instruments behind any registered fact.
  • Jahresabschluss (Annual financial statements as filed) — the annual accounts, management report, audit certificate, corporate governance report, supervisory board report and profit appropriation resolution filed under sections 277 and following of the UGB, with reduced content for small and micro companies and separate rules for consolidated accounts and for branches of foreign corporations. Used for financial due diligence and credit assessment.
  • Gesellschaftsvertrag, Satzung, Erklärung über die Errichtung der Gesellschaft (Articles of association, statutes, declaration of establishment) — filed in notarial form with the registration application and therefore publicly retrievable; for a private foundation, the Stiftungsurkunde (foundation deed). Used to verify corporate purpose, capital, transfer restrictions and representation rules.
  • Musterzeichnung / Musterzeichnungserklärung (Specimen signature declaration) — the authorised representative’s signature, signed before the register court or filed in certified form and kept with the court. Used to verify that a signature on a document comes from a registered representative.
  • Amtsbestätigung (Official certificate of the court) — issued where the required confirmation cannot be produced from an extract, for example a negative confirmation that a company is not registered in the Firmenbuch, a confirmation that a particular entry has not been made, or proof of historic entries predating electronic capture. Used for legalisation and apostille packages and for evidence towards authorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the business register in Austria called?

It is the Firmenbuch (Business Register), kept by the regional courts under the Federal Ministry of Justice and queried through JustizOnline or through authorised clearing agencies and notaries.

Is the Austrian Firmenbuch public?

Yes. Section 9 of the UGB entitles everyone to inspect the main register and the collection of documents, and a free short information service including the EUID must be offered for individual queries.

Must a sole trader register in the Firmenbuch?

Only if subject to the accounting duty, which applies above an annual turnover of EUR 700,000. Other sole traders may register voluntarily; those who do not usually appear only in the trade licence register GISA.

What is a FlexCo?

The Flexible Kapitalgesellschaft (flexible company), abbreviated FlexKapG or FlexCo, is a capital company introduced on 1 January 2024. GmbH rules apply subsidiarily, and it offers a minimum individual contribution of EUR 1 and enterprise value shares intended for employee participation.

What is the minimum share capital of an Austrian GmbH?

EUR 10,000 since 1 January 2024, with a minimum individual contribution of EUR 70. At least half of the share capital must be raised through fully paid cash contributions.

Can I look up the beneficial owner of an Austrian company?

Not as a member of the public. Public access to the Register of Beneficial Owners ended on 1 September 2023 following the Court of Justice judgment in cases C-37/20 and C-601/20. Access is now open to obliged entities, authorities, the entity itself and persons demonstrating a legitimate interest.

Sources

Keywords

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