The capital contribution of a company with limited liability (“GmbH”) must amount to EUR 35,000, whereby at least EUR 17,500 must be paid in cash. However, there is also the possibility of making use of the so-called foundation privilege (“Gründungsprivilegierung”).
The use of the founding privilege means:
In addition to the capital contributions to be assumed by the shareholders, the memorandum and articles of association must also stipulate so-called foundation privileged capital contributions for the individual shareholders. The sum of the foundation-privileged capital contributions must amount to at least 10,000 euros. At least 5,000 euros must be paid in cash into the foundation-privileged capital contributions, contributions in kind are not possible. The privileged foundation ends after ten years at the latest, but can also be terminated at an earlier point in time. The prerequisite for this is that the articles of association are amended accordingly and that the statutory minimum contribution requirements (usually at least EUR 17,500 in cash) are met.