The Principality of Liechtenstein appeared on the map of Europe more than 300 years ago. In 1866, it gained sovereignty and became one of the smallest state entities in the world. Over the past centuries, Liechtenstein has become a prosperous country with a high level of well-being of its citizens and a dynamically growing economy.
For many years, the Principality has remained a safe tax haven for international business. In order for the country to remain in the European Economic Community, the authorities have slightly tightened their tax legislation and increased the requirements for companies of foreign origin.
But the absence of some of the classic offshore opportunities in Liechtenstein has not frightened foreign entrepreneurs. The Principality still remains an extremely favourable jurisdiction for registering a new business in Europe.
The Principality has endeavoured to make the most of its neutral status. Liechtenstein was not involved in any of the devastating world wars of the twentieth century, nor did it co-operate with dictatorial regimes. Located in the heart of Western Europe, the country has not yet joined the European Union, but this does not prevent it from being part of the common economic space of Europe and belonging to the Schengen zone.
Liechtenstein is a prosperous state with a stable political system. In this country, the law and the right to private property are respected. Therefore, a company registered in the Principality can develop smoothly without rude interference of inspection structures, freezing of bank accounts, etc.
Liechtenstein has a 12.5% corporate income tax rate, which is one of the lowest in Europe. Dividend income is not taxed (under certain conditions), and the value added tax rate is only 8.1 per cent.
Moreover, the principle of pass-through taxation applies to some corporate structures in this country, where corporate profits are taxed once, after distribution to the founders.
24 jurisdictions have signed double taxation treaties with Liechtenstein. 29 countries have a tax information exchange treaty with Liechtenstein.
In Liechtenstein itself, with just over 39,000 inhabitants in 2021, the market for goods and services is very limited. But this small country is part of the European Economic Community. And a customs union treaty has been signed with Switzerland.
In this way, the Liechtenstein-registered company is able to increase its sales in the territory of its nearest neighbour and in the rich markets of European countries.
Liechtenstein has a well-developed financial sector of the economy, and the country itself has the highest credit rating of AAA. There is no currency control in this state, and the Swiss franc is used for domestic payments.
Foreign investors highly appreciate Liechtenstein for the opportunity to earn good money in local investment funds, and entrepreneurs with a good idea for business will always be able to find a source of financing in this country.
Since it is advantageous for Liechtensteiners to register new commercial enterprises in their country, the state has provided foreign businessmen with a convenient and, most importantly, fast service. Almost any interaction with the authorities in Liechtenstein can be done remotely: via the Internet or by telephone.
The future entrepreneur can choose from a variety of convenient business forms to find the most suitable option. In short, it is quite easy to register a new company in the Principality, especially if you are assisted by our experienced specialists.
In order to successfully carry out settlements, a company opened in Liechtenstein can conclude a service agreement with financial institutions within the country, as well as with no less prestigious Swiss and European banks.
Due to its compactness and geographical location, Liechtenstein gives the owners of resident companies the opportunity to hire highly qualified employees not only directly in the Principality, but also in the neighbouring regions: Austria and Switzerland. In other words, those entrepreneurs, whose company will carry out its activities at the place of registration, can count on the human resource potential of 2-3 other European countries.
There are a great variety of legal forms for registering a commercial firm in this country, but foreign businessmen are usually limited to five types of companies:
In this type of commercial organisation, the liability of the founders is limited to their share in the share capital. A GmbH can only issue registered shares.
Liechtenstein has no exchange controls, so the authorised capital of all public limited companies can be calculated in US dollars, euros or Swiss francs. The minimum founding capital for a private limited company is 10000 in any of these currencies. However, the initial non-refundable contribution of each founder must be at least CHF 50.
A GmbH company in Liechtenstein can be registered by one or more founders, local tax residents or foreign companies and individuals.
In contrast to other European jurisdictions where limited liability companies are most popular with foreign businessmen, in Liechtenstein foreigners are much more likely to register another type of corporate structure — AG.
This type of company is one of the most common forms of doing business in Liechtenstein. According to some reports, every second business entity registered in the country is an AG.
Liechtenstein public limited companies are equally convenient for small and large businesses. The advantages of Aktiengesellschaf include:
Ability to issue bearer shares and place them on the stock market to attract additional investment in the business;
Limiting the liability of shareholders to the actual value of their shares in the company.
The founders of a public limited company may be natural and legal persons, regardless of their place of residence and tax residence. At least two founders are required to open an AG.
The minimum permissible share capital of such an organisation shall not be less than CHF 50,000, Euros or US dollars, which shall be paid in full by depositing funds in a special bank account in one of the banks of Liechtenstein, Switzerland or the European Economic Area.
All publicly traded companies in the country must have a resident agent, an individual or legal entity, who is responsible for liaising with government authorities.
If this job is taken on by a person, they should:
Be a citizen of Liechtenstein or hold citizenship of a European Economic Area country;
Reside permanently in the Principality.
If your resident agent will be an organisation, it must be officially registered in Liechtenstein.
Imperial & Legal will provide you with a reliable and compliant resident agent in the Principality.
Liechtenstein AGs submit audited financial statements annually. An individual or a company can be appointed as auditor, but only if he or she is completely independent of the audited organisation. In other words, the following requirements must be fulfilled in order for no conflict of interest to arise:
The auditor may not be a member of the board of directors of the joint-stock company in which he/she conducts the audit;
If a person performs the audit, he or she is prohibited from owning shares in the audited company;
If the auditor is a company, it cannot carry out the audit in the organisation it belongs to.
AGs are governed by a board of directors, which can include both individuals and companies. There may be one to several directors, but at least one seat on the board must be held by your resident agent.
The most common types of funds in Liechtenstein:
Family foundation. The assets it contains are used for the benefit of members of one or more families);
A corporate fund that is often used as a holding structure.
Foundations are registered in the Principality in order to preserve or increase private capital and for the gradual transfer of assets belonging to the founders to their adult heirs. Often the purpose of the Stiftung may be social and charitable work.
A Liechtenstein foundation may be established by a single person. The minimum capital of such an organisation is 30000 euros, American dollars or Swiss francs. The Stiftung has a separate legal personality from the founders, i.e. the founders are liable for the debts of the organisation only to the extent of their contribution to its capital.
Another curious feature of this corporate form is the ability to hide the identity of the true beneficiaries of the fund.
A special type of business organisation unique to Liechtenstein. It combines the capabilities of a joint stock company and an investment fund. Such business structures are also used as trusts to manage immovable property outside Liechtenstein.
Anstalt is well suited to those foreign entrepreneurs who will be both the founder and director of their company in one person, as one individual or legal entity will be sufficient for its registration.
The authorised capital of such a company is paid in full by the founders and can be calculated in Swiss francs, euros or US dollars. The minimum amount is 30000. If the authorised capital is divided into shares, the founders must deposit at least 50000.
Trusts in Liechtenstein are registered so that third parties can manage the assets of companies or individuals on trust for profit.
The creation of a trust requires a settlor and a trustee. Trusts in Liechtenstein are created on the basis of a written agreement — a trust deed or a unilateral trust declaration. The trust deed regulates the relationship between the settlor, the trustee and the beneficiaries. The minimum size of the trust fund can be any size.
Other less common legal forms of business in Liechtenstein include partnerships. This type of company is generally chosen for small businesses, also when there are close economic or professional ties between the parties to the partnership.
The establishment of a partnership in the Principality requires founders (at least two), which can be other organisations or individuals. There are no minimum capital requirements for Liechtenstein partnerships.
According to the degree of distribution of responsibility within the organisation, a distinction is made:
General partnerships, where all members are jointly and severally liable for the debts of their company with all their property;
Limited liability partnerships that have:
General partners — persons who take an active part in the management of the organisation and are fully liable for its debts;
Limited partners whose liability for the performance of the partnership extends only to their share in the share capital.
In order to successfully conduct business, a Liechtenstein-registered firm must fulfil a number of requirements that relate to the registered office, personnel, management structure, share capital and financial checks.
All companies officially registered in Liechtenstein, regardless of their legal form, must have an office and registered office in Liechtenstein. The Liechtenstein office keeps registers with information about the company’s shareholders and directors, as well as financial statements.
Renting a suitable office and setting up a registered office in the Principality is already part of our package.
The share capital of a company to be incorporated in Liechtenstein is deposited prior to incorporation in a special bank account. The bank may be located in Liechtenstein or in a country of the European Economic Area. Therefore, if you do not have time to check and open an account in the country of incorporation, you can use the services of financial institutions in Switzerland or in the European Union. In this case, the future entrepreneur presents the authorities of the Principality with a relevant document from the bank, drawn up in English.
All Liechtenstein corporate structures, foundations and anstalt are subject to income tax at a flat rate of 12.5 per cent.
Resident companies pay corporate tax on all their income, regardless of where it originates. Non-resident companies have a limited tax liability on income arising from the use of property or the operation of branches in the Principality.
Liechtenstein also has a minimum tax. For each accounting period beginning on 1 January 2017, all officially registered businesses in the country, regardless of their tax residence, are subject to a minimum tax of CHF 1800. This can, however, be fully offset against corporate income tax.
Companies whose assets have been valued at CHF 500000 in the last three accounting years are exempt from the minimum tax in Liechtenstein.
The tax laws of this country provide effective ways to optimise taxation. To find out how your company can save on taxes in Liechtenstein, contact Imperial & Legal for advice.
To ensure that the procedure of business registration does not turn out to be a bureaucratic disaster with unforeseen expenses, it is better to enlist the support of qualified specialists of our company in advance.
With competent legal support from Imperial & Legal, it will be relatively easy for you to open a company in Liechtenstein. Registration does not differ fundamentally from the same process in any other jurisdiction in Europe and is literally a few steps.
At the first consultation we carefully consider all your wishes and choose the most suitable legal form to successfully solve the problems of your business.
Next comes the selection and approval of the name of the future company. The Principality has restrictions on certain words in the name of the company. The Liechtenstein authorities recommend placing at the end of the name an abbreviation indicating the chosen type of company: GmbH, AG, etc.
It usually does not take our staff long to check and approve a company name. All necessary information for checking the name against other companies is usually taken from the Commercial Register.
Opening a bank account and depositing the authorised capital. Under current corporate law, the share capital of a company must be deposited in part or in full in a bank account opened for this purpose.
We can help you to conclude a co-operation agreement with a bank in Liechtenstein. It can take up to 5 weeks for a financial institution to make a decision on your firm. Therefore, Imperial & Legal specialists recommend entrepreneurs to place equity capital on pre-opened bank accounts in Switzerland or in other countries (they must be in the European Economic Area).
Preparing documents for company registration together with Imperial & Legal specialists. To register a company in Liechtenstein we will need the following documents and information:
Application to the Liechtenstein Commercial Register;
Statutory documents of the company (articles of association; memorandum of association);
Documents of the founders. For an individual: notarised copies of passports, documents confirming the address of residence, police certificate. For a company, copies of constituent documents will be required;
Information on the founding capital: the amount of the authorised capital, as well as the type, number, par value of issued shares;
A document from the bank confirming the fact of the authorised capital deposit;
Details of the directors of the company to be incorporated, including specimen signatures.
All documents are submitted in German, so we provide copies with a certified translation in advance if the client has papers in another language. The application for registration is filled in with the help of our specialist. In addition to the approved company name and legal form, the application also contains the registered office of the future company.
Registration and processing of a work permit. Before submitting an application, the state fee is paid. The amount of the fee depends on the size of the founding capital and the type of company. As a rule, the fee is already included in the cost of our services.
When a favourable decision is made on the application, the entrepreneur is provided with a certificate of registration and the statutory documents are returned.
However, only registering your company is usually not enough to start working right away. Even more so if your products or services are to be sold directly in Liechtenstein. With our help, you can quickly register your company in the Commercial Register and obtain a business licence from the authorities.
With the help of Imperial & Legal employees, the process of opening a Liechtenstein company can be completed in 4-5 weeks, where 2 weeks are spent directly on making a decision on the application. The remaining 2-3 weeks are usually spent on preparatory work: selecting and approving the company name, collecting and drafting documents, getting acquainted with the resident agent and choosing a registration address in Liechtenstein.
To realise all the opportunities for your business in the Principality, contact Imperial & Legal for advice. By drawing on the extensive experience of our consultants, you will not only avoid the complexities of incorporating a new company, but will also be able to optimise your business taxation in a completely legal manner.
Most often Liechtenstein companies are registered to:
Active business in the Principality is considered to be such companies whose income is 80% formed as a result of commercial activities — i.e. sale of goods and provision of services. That is, passive sources of income (royalties, interest, dividends from owned companies, etc.) should be no more than 20% of all profits.
The main advantage of a Liechtenstein investment fund is its tax neutrality or, in other words, the pass-through taxation principle applied to this type of business organisation.
What is meant by these two terms? An investment fund in Liechtenstein is not a taxpayer and does not pay corporate tax. The income generated by the fund’s activities is distributed to the founders, who in turn report and pay income tax where they are tax residents.
The mere fact of working abroad does not exempt the firm from keeping accounting records and preparing and submitting an annual financial report and tax return.
If your business can be characterised as medium or large, you may need to have an audit and a constituent meeting every year.
To find out more precisely which reports your company must prepare and submit in Liechtenstein, please contact one of our team for a consultation.
Anstalt is versatile. It can be structured as a single-founder company, a joint-stock company, a holding company or a private investment fund. In the first case, the founder can be a person or a legal entity.
Additional benefits:
The founder of an anstalt in Liechtenstein may not be the beneficiary;
To establish an anstalt, it is sufficient to pay half of the declared authorised capital;
If the Anstalt does not issue shares, the minimum founding capital will be lower — CHF 30000 instead of CHF 50000 for equity capital;
Anstalt only audits and submits financial statements if business activities were carried out during the reporting period.
Company registration in Liechtenstein with the help of Imperial & Legal. Over 20 years of experience. Specialists provide comprehensive business services. Free consultation available.
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