Company Incorporations Around Europe

Over the last few years, an interesting phenomenon in the arena of company formations has been the sizeable number of European individuals forming a company in the UK.

Germans in particular, but also French, Italian and particularly Norwegians have flocked to UK formation agents to form a company.

A quick look at the basic rules for company formation relating to some of these countries gives an indication as to why this has been the case.

In Germany, the basic type of company, a GmBH requires a minimum signed up or paid up share capital of €25,000.  Additionally, the cost of forming such a company can run to a few thousand pounds and it can take a good number of weeks to complete.

The same is the position in France where the incorporation process can take as long as 3 weeks and the cost can be over €1,000.

In Italy, the formation of an SRL company similarly can take a number of weeks and we have received quotes for as much as €3,800 for the formation.  The capital requirement for an SRL is €10,000 and a quarter of this has to be deposited with a bank in Italy before the Deed of Incorporation is executed.

In the Netherlands, a BV company incorporation can typically take 4 weeks to form and the costs can be almost €5,000.

Sometimes we forget how easy we have it in the UK where the formation of a company can take place in a matter of hours from as little as £24.99.