GesbR partnership agreement (Austria)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
The partnership agreement for an Austrian civil-law partnership (Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts, GesbR) of two or three people running a project, a practice or a small business together, under §§ 1175 ff of the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) in force since 1 January 2015: name and seat, purpose, contributions and shares, management and representation, resolutions, profit and loss, liability (§ 1199 ABGB), notice for the end of a financial year, six months ahead (§ 1209 ABGB), leaving, death and settlement. A GesbR needs no form and is not entered in the company register (Firmenbuch). In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Partner 1: full name or business name
- Partner 1's academic degree (if any)
- Partner 1's date of birth
- Partner 1's address
- Partner 2: full name or business name
- Partner 2's academic degree (if any)
- Partner 2's date of birth
- Partner 2's address
- Partner 3: full name or business name
- Partner 3's academic degree (if any)
- Partner 3's date of birth
- Partner 3's address
- Name of the GesbR (Austrian civil-law partnership)
- Seat of the GesbR (where its business is run from)
- Purpose
- Partners' contributions (money, assets, work)
- Shares in the partnership (e.g. 50% each)
- Management and representation of the GesbR
- Partners who manage alone (only if that option is chosen)
- How the partners pass resolutions
- Drawings (amount and timing)
- Start date
- Death of a partner
- Other terms
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Does a GesbR agreement in Austria need a particular form?
- No. A GesbR comes into being through an agreement that needs no form, even through conduct (§§ 1175 ff ABGB). Written down and signed by everyone, though, the agreement is the proof of what was agreed. Other forms apply where a partner brings in land — the land register requires certified signatures — or GmbH shares, whose transfer needs a notarial deed (Notariatsakt). The rules in force since 2015 have bound older GesbRs too since 1 January 2022.
- How are the partners of a GesbR liable in Austria?
- Personally, without limit and jointly and severally: each is liable to the partnership's creditors for the whole debt with all their assets (§ 1199 ABGB). What the partners agree among themselves about sharing losses does not change that towards creditors; it only settles who must reimburse whom internally. A GesbR is not entered in the company register; limited liability is available only in another legal form, such as a GmbH or, for limited partners, a KG.
- When must a GesbR in Austria register as an OG or KG?
- When the partners together run a business whose revenue exceeds the thresholds of § 189 UGB — currently € 700,000 in two consecutive financial years, or € 1,000,000 in one — they must register the partnership in the company register (Firmenbuch) as a general partnership (OG) or limited partnership (KG) (§ 8 Abs 3 UGB). A GesbR itself cannot be registered. Item 9 of this agreement records that duty.
- How does a partner give notice to end a GesbR in Austria?
- If the partnership was formed for an indefinite period, a partner can give notice only for the end of a financial year, at least six months beforehand (§ 1209 ABGB). An agreement excluding that right, or restricting it other than by a reasonable extension of the notice period, is void. Notice takes effect only on receipt: hand it to each fellow partner against a dated signature on a copy, or send it by registered post in good time. What happens next is settled in item 8 of this agreement.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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