Founding a GmbH in Germany
A first-hand walkthrough of founding a GmbH in Germany as a solo founder: notary, Handelsregister, Transparenzregister, USt-IdNr, Gewerbeanmeldung, and every cost I actually paid.
Starting a GmbH in Germany looks simple on paper: go to a notary, register the company, done. In practice it’s a chain of dependencies — the bank waits on the notary, the tax office waits on the bank, and your Steuerberater ties it all together. I went through the whole process founding my own company, and this is the exact sequence I followed, including what everything actually cost.
If you’re planning to found a GmbH yourself, use this as a checklist you can tick off as you go — your progress is saved locally in your browser, so you can close the tab and come back later.
GmbH Formation Checklist
0 / 10 done
1. Draft the Articles of Association and Book a Notary Appointment
The first real step is the Gesellschaftsvertrag (articles of association) and the Beurkundung, the notarization appointment. The notary reads the contract with you, confirms everyone understands what they’re signing, and formally certifies it. In Germany, unlike many other countries, you can’t skip the notary — it’s a legal requirement for a GmbH, not an optional formality.
Book this early: notaries in bigger cities can be booked out for weeks.
2. The Notary Issues the Document You Need to Open a Bank Account
Once the Gesellschaftsvertrag is notarized, the notary gives you a document confirming the company’s formation is underway. This is what your bank will ask for before it lets you open a business account for a company that, technically, doesn’t legally exist yet (it’s a GmbH in Gründung / “UG i.G.” status until the Handelsregister entry is final).
3. Open a Business Bank Account
With the notary’s document in hand, you can open your business account. I used Qonto, mainly because the onboarding is fully online and fast compared to traditional German banks. This account is where your share capital deposit goes, and it becomes your operating account once the company is registered.
4. Deposit the Share Capital
A GmbH requires 25,000 € in share capital, but you don’t need to pay it all in upfront. Legally, you only need to deposit half — 12,500 € — before registration. The remaining 12,500 € stays as a liability: you personally owe it to the company, and it can be called in later.
This is one of the most misunderstood parts of GmbH formation — people assume you need the full 25,000 € in cash on day one, and that’s not the case.
5. Notary Fees
Notary costs are calculated based on the share capital (following the German fee schedule, GNotKG), so they scale with your company’s numbers. In my case, the notary fees came to roughly 800 €, covering the Beurkundung and the associated certifications.
6. Handelsregister Registration
This is the step that makes the company official. The good news: you don’t have to do this yourself — the notary files the Handelsregister entry directly after the Beurkundung. The fee, paid to the Justizkasse (the court’s payment office), was around 300 € in my case.
Once this entry is published, your GmbH legally exists and the “i.G.” (in Gründung) suffix drops.
7. Transparenzregister Registration
The Transparenzregister (transparency register) records the beneficial owners of the company. This one isn’t handled automatically by the notary — I registered it myself. It’s a straightforward online process, but easy to forget since nobody reminds you to do it.
8. Getting Your Umsatzsteuer-IdNr. (VAT ID)
The USt-IdNr. is your EU-wide VAT number, separate from your regular tax number. My Steuerberater (tax advisor) handled this application as part of the general tax registration process.
9. Steuerlicher Erfassungsbogen and Your Steuernummer
The steuerlicher Erfassungsbogen is the tax registration questionnaire every new business has to submit to the Finanzamt — it covers expected turnover, profit forecasts, and how the company will be taxed. My Steuerberater filed this on my behalf, and it’s what got me my Steuernummer (local tax number, different from the USt-IdNr.).
10. Gewerbeanmeldung (Trade Registration)
The Gewerbeanmeldung registers your business activity with the local trade office. I did mine at the Bezirksamt Altona in Hamburg, since that’s where the company is based. It cost 25 € and was the fastest, most bureaucratically painless step of the entire process.
11. Steuerberater Fees
Having a Steuerberater isn’t legally required for a GmbH, but in practice it’s close to essential — GmbH accounting (double-entry bookkeeping, annual financial statements, corporate tax filings) is not something you want to improvise. I’m still working through the exact fee structure with mine, so I can’t give a hard number yet, but expect this to be an ongoing monthly or quarterly cost, not a one-off.
12. Ongoing Account Costs
Qonto charges a monthly maintenance fee for the business account, roughly 5 €/month in my case (worth double-checking against your specific plan, as pricing tiers change).
Rough Cost Summary
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Notary fees (Beurkundung) | ~800 € |
| Handelsregister (via Justizkasse) | ~300 € |
| Gewerbeanmeldung | 25 € |
| Share capital deposited (of 25,000 € total) | 12,500 € |
| Qonto account | ~5 €/month |
| Steuerberater | ongoing, amount TBD |
Keep in mind the 12,500 € isn’t really a “cost” — it stays as company assets, it’s just no longer liquid in your personal account.
Final Thoughts
The GmbH process is very procedural once you understand the order of operations: notary → bank → capital deposit → Handelsregister → Transparenzregister → tax registration → Gewerbeanmeldung. Nothing about it is conceptually hard, but each step depends on the previous one finishing, so the real cost is time and waiting, not just money.
If you’re about to start this process, the biggest tip I can give is: book your notary appointment as early as possible, since it’s the one step that unlocks everything else.
FAQ
Between the required share capital deposit (at least 12,500 € of the 25,000 € minimum) and formation costs like notary and Handelsregister fees (roughly 1,000–1,200 € combined in my case), plus ongoing Steuerberater fees, expect total formation costs in the low four figures on top of the capital itself.
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