Business Start-Ups
Business Start-up Promotion Act (Neugründungsförderungsgesetz)
If you intend to set up a company, you will be expected to pay various fees. However, if your business start-up meets a number of requirements set forth by what is known in Austria as the Neugründungsförderungsgesetz (which translates as Business Start-up Promotion Act), certain fee exemptions may apply.
Your start-up might be exempt from the following fees:
- stamp duty (Stempelgebühren),
- administrative fees (Bundesverwaltungsabgaben),
- real property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer),
- court fees (Gerichtsgebühren),
- payroll fringe costs (Lohnnebenkosten).
Industrial law (Gewerberecht)
In Austria, a number of trades require some sort of qualification certificate. You will need a business license, especially if the nature of your work requires skilled labour (e.g., a mechanic or a carpenter). The qualification you need to provide depends on the type of business you intend to establish.
To obtain a business licence you generally need to:
- have Austrian or EU/EEA citizenship;
- be a natural person aged 19 or older;
- have no reasons for exclusion in your records (e.g., financial offence, court sentence);
- have a business location and, if required, hold an operating licence (Betriebsanlagengenehmigung).
If you intend to establish a corporation or a partnership, you need to appoint one managing director who holds the right to exercise this trade (e.g., a carpentry business must have at least one fully qualified carpenter as its managing director).
Sole proprietors are required to designate a licensed managing director if they do not meet the requirements themselves.
There are a lot of unregulated trades for which you do not need any qualification (e.g., any kind of trading).
