While Austria is a small market within the EU, its customers are affluent. Austria is a good distribution hub to ship products across Central and Eastern European countries.
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH - limited liability company):
- at least one shareholder of any nationality and residence
- at least one director of any nationality and residence
- legal office address in Austria
- minimum share capital of 35,000 EUR and half of it must be paid up front
- minimum contribution from each shareholder is 7,000 EUR
Aktiengesellschaft (AG - joint stock company):
- at least one shareholder
- supervisory board that will name the management board
- legal office address in Austria
- minimum share capital of 70,000 EUR and 25% of minimum issue amount fully paid up in cash
Taxation:
- standard VAT rate is 20%, but a reduced rate of 10% is applied to certain goods and services
- corporate tax is 25%
- no withholding tax on dividends