Setting up a firm in Austria: the guide for all legal and tax advisory professions

First comes the authorisation to practise

In Austria you do not set up a firm the way you open a shop with a trade licence (Gewerbeschein). Lawyers (Rechtsanwält:innen), tax advisers (Steuerberater:innen), auditors (Wirtschaftsprüfer:innen), the accounting professions, registered mediators and notaries all need an authorisation under their own professional code. Only once it is granted may you practise independently and use the protected professional title. Offering services on a website before that point risks an administrative fine.

Two special cases deserve a note of their own. You do not found a notary's office (Notariat): you apply for a vacant post, the chamber ranks three applicants and the ministry makes the appointment. Much of this guide still applies to you, for example premises, software and confidentiality. And in mediation, alongside registration with the Ministry of Justice, there is a commercial route, for instance via the life and social counselling trade (Lebens- und Sozialberatung). Only registered mediators benefit from the effects of the Zivilrechts-Mediations-Gesetz (Civil Mediation Act), such as the suspension of limitation periods.

Sole practice or partnership/company

Most new firms start as a sole practice: little administration, full freedom of decision, personal liability. A partnership or company makes sense if you are starting with colleagues, plan to hire staff or want to limit liability. The professional codes set tight limits here:

• Lawyers can form a Rechtsanwalts-Partnerschaft (as an OG or KG, i.e. general or limited partnership), a GmbH (limited company) or a Flexible Kapitalgesellschaft, but not an AG (stock corporation). Since 1 August 2026 only lawyers and a small group of equivalent persons may hold shares. For corporate forms the minimum insured sum rises to €2,400,000.
• Tax advisers and auditors may choose any partnership or company that can be entered in the commercial register (Firmenbuch). The KSW must recognise the firm, the firm name must state the profession practised, and authorised professionals need a majority of the capital and controlling influence.
• Accounting professionals set up as sole traders (optionally as a registered e.U.), GmbH, OG or KG. A company needs a managing director under trade law who holds the professional exam for the full scope of the authorisation.
• Notaries can only join together in a Notar-Partnerschaft as an OG or KG; the law does not provide for a notary GmbH.
• Mediation is tied to the registered individual. Shared offices with other mediators or with lawyers, psychologists or other source professions are common; you provide the mediation itself in person.

Registered office and premises

Every professional code requires a fixed professional seat (Berufssitz). For tax advisers and auditors this means a permanent establishment with adequate staff, equipment and functions (§ 12 WTBG 2017). Branch offices must be notified to the chamber and need a licensed professional in charge, who may run no more than four of them (§ 74 WTBG 2017). Similar rules apply to the accounting professions (§ 11 BiBuG 2014). Lawyers apply for registration with the chamber of the region where their office will be; a branch office needs the chamber's approval and its own lawyer in charge (§ 7a RAO). Notaries have an official seat (Amtssitz) that is fixed with the post.

When looking for premises, what counts in practice is a lockable meeting room where nobody can overhear, a filing cabinet or archive with access control, step-free access for clients with a pushchair or wheelchair, and an address that is easy to reach by public transport. A coworking space can be enough at the start, provided a separate room can be booked for meetings and documents are never left lying around. Before you sign a lease, check with your chamber or authority whether the premises qualify as your professional seat.

Insurance: what is compulsory and what is sensible

For all six professions, professional indemnity insurance is a precondition for registration, appointment or nomination; the insurer usually sends the confirmation directly to the chamber or authority. The minimum sums in the table above are a floor, not a recommendation. What matters is the work you actually do: a property transaction with escrow handling, a statutory audit or payroll for 80 employees carry very different risks.

Voluntary but common are office liability insurance for personal injury on the premises, contents insurance for equipment and furniture, and cyber insurance. Health insurance and pensions are covered by different systems depending on the profession, as the next section explains.

Tax office, VAT and social insurance

You notify the tax office (Finanzamt) that you have started self-employed work within one month (§§ 120, 121 BAO), usually through FinanzOnline. You receive a tax number and, if you invoice businesses, a VAT ID (UID-Nummer). The services of all six professions are subject to VAT. Up to €55,000 in annual turnover (gross), the small business scheme (Kleinunternehmerregelung) applies. It is convenient but rules out input tax deduction: if you invest in an office, IT and a website at the start and mainly advise businesses, you are often better off waiving the exemption. This is best discussed with a tax adviser who works with professional firms.

Who is insured where

• Lawyers: pension provision through the Versorgungseinrichtung of the Rechtsanwaltskammer, with contributions and reductions for the first years that vary by chamber. Ask your chamber about the rules for health insurance.
• Tax advisers and auditors: pension insurance usually through the SVS (social insurance for the self-employed); for health insurance, the KSW group insurance is an alternative to the statutory option.
• Accounting professionals: compulsorily insured under the GSVG with the SVS. Your details are passed automatically to the SVS and the Wirtschaftskammer (Chamber of Commerce) on appointment.
• Registered mediators: without a trade licence usually insured with the SVS as Neue Selbständige (new self-employed). Registering is your responsibility as soon as you expect to exceed the insurance threshold.
• Notaries: compulsory pension cover through the Versorgungsanstalt des österreichischen Notariates under the Notarversorgungsgesetz (NVG 2020).

Bank account, software and background duties

Keep firm money and private money separate from day one. Lawyers also hold third-party funds in a client trust account (Anderkonto); trust mandates they take on go into a consecutively numbered register, and above a certain amount they are handled through the chamber's trust facility (§ 10a RAO). For software, it pays to look at what is common in your profession. Lawyers often work with programs such as ADVOKAT, tax and accounting firms with BMD or RZL, which also offer their own client portals. For communication with the courts, lawyers and notaries need the Elektronischer Rechtsverkehr (ERV, electronic legal communication); tax advisers use FinanzOnline as a representative for the tax office.

Less visible, but relevant in any inspection, are the anti-money laundering duties. Lawyers must familiarise trainee lawyers and staff with the rules, for example through training (§ 21b RAO), and accounting professionals must send their risk assessment to their authority on request. Build identification and documentation into your client intake process right away, not only after the supervisor's first query. Add to that the continuing professional development requirement, which each profession measures differently: tax advisers, for example, need 120 hours in three years, registered mediators 50 hours in five years.

Confidentiality and data protection from the start

Clients entrust you with things they tell nobody else: debts, reasons for divorce, tax problems, corporate crises. Professional secrecy, for example under § 9 RAO for lawyers or § 80 WTBG 2017 for Wirtschaftstreuhänder:innen, also extends to your staff. Bind your assistants, trainee lawyers (Rechtsanwaltsanwärter:innen) and external IT support to confidentiality explicitly and in writing.

Funding: NeuFöG and AMS

The Neugründungs-Förderungsgesetz (NeuFöG, New Business Promotion Act) exempts new businesses from, among other things, stamp duties and federal administrative charges arising directly from the start-up, court fees for entry in the commercial register and, to a limited extent, payroll charges for staff hired in the first 36 months. The condition is an advice session with your statutory professional body, confirmed on the official form. For the accounting professions this is the Wirtschaftskammer; lawyers, Wirtschaftstreuhänder:innen and notaries ask their own chamber. Important: the form must be in place in time, as a refund of fees already paid is generally not possible.

If you are starting out from unemployment, ask the AMS (Public Employment Service) about its business start-up programme (Unternehmensgründungsprogramm). It offers advice and, in some cases, financial support during preparation. The chambers also have their own schemes, such as reduced contributions in the first years or after the birth of a child. Ask specifically before you register.

Becoming visible and winning the first clients

First clients rarely come through advertising. They come through colleagues, former employers and partnerships, and through people finding you when they hear your name. So three things should be right on day one:

After that, networking that fits your professional rules helps: standing in for colleagues at hearings, a partnership between an accounting office and a tax practice for annual returns, talks at start-up events. Commissions for referred clients, on the other hand, are expressly prohibited for lawyers and Wirtschaftstreuhänder:innen. Which advertising is allowed in your profession is explained in the guides on advertising rules, for example for lawyers or accounting professionals.

A realistic timeline

The long part is the training. The actual set-up can be done in a few months if you follow this order:

1. Six to three months before: look for premises, decide on the legal form, meet the chamber or authority, attend the NeuFöG advice session.
2. Three months before: request indemnity quotes, set up the bank account, software, IT and email, prepare the website and Google profile.
3. Apply for registration, appointment or nomination with all supporting documents; for a company, also the articles of association and commercial register entry.
4. Once authorised: publish the website, check directory entries, register with the tax office and social insurance.
5. In the first year: record your CPD, review anti-money laundering processes, put fee agreements in writing.