A long-term decision
Whenever you start a business, the question of which legal form you should operate under inevitably arises. This is very important as it has far-reaching consequences for a company’s organisation and related liability, tax and labour law issues.
Choosing the legal form is not a decision based on business, legal or tax criteria. All of them need to be taken into account.
However, the present form of any company is by no means something that lasts forever, but may well change over time. The long-term outlook plays an important role. The legal form should, therefore, be reviewed at regular intervals, not only when the company is being founded, but also in the future.
Common occasions that call for a review are as follows:
-
growth
- changes in law
- changes in ownership
- gifts and succession
- sale of the company
- mergers and cooperations
SHWP and their team of experienced accountants, lawyers and tax advisors help with decision-making – during the initial start-up phase and throughout the lifetime of the company.
The SHWP team is familiar with all existing legal forms (GmbH, GmbH & Co. KG, OHG, KG and AG), as well as with other corporate structures and transactions, such as company splits and standard as well as non-standard shareholdings. The expertise of the team includes setting up associations, trusts and non-profit limited companies.
A network of international partners facilitates cross-border transactions.