Your company needs to have the legal form UG (haftungsbeschränkt) or GmbH in Gründung (in foundation) and has to be located in Germany.

• The registered office of the GmbH or UG in formation has to be located in Germany
• You must have a notarized and signed memorandum of association (Musterprotokoll, Urkundenrolle, Gesellschaftsvertrag) with a seal or stamp

Once the account is opened, you are required to provide us with the following information and documents:

• Within 10 weeks after opening the account we need the excerpt from the commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug).

An Unternehmergesellschaft, with the abbreviation UG, is a special form of the GmbH, which was introduced in Germany in 2008.

Both legal forms are considered to be limited liability corporations and are similar in many respects.

Probably the most important difference for founders: With a GmbH you need a share capital of at least €25,000.

When founding an UG, you only need a share capital of one Euro. Therefore the UG is also called a small GmbH, Mini-GmbH or 1-Euro-GmbH.

Starting a Mini-GmbH in Germany is a cost-effective way to become an entrepreneur and to enable a quick start into self-employment without the risk of a GmbH.

In addition, an Unternehmergesellschaft must bear the addition “UG (haftungsbeschränkt)” in the company name.

Yes. The minimum share capital is €25,000. At least half of this amount, i.e. €12,500, must be paid in at the time of foundation. If there are several partners, each share must be at least €1.00.

First the notary appointment, then the account opening.

A company that needs to be entered in the commercial register (Handelsregister), requires a notarized certificate of incorporation to open an account. This must be presented when opening a business account.

After opening a business account, it’s essential that you send your notary a certificate of payment of the share capital (Account Statement) so that he or she can certify it and send it to the commercial register.