Private foundation

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Organization chart foundation

A private foundation is a legal person that uses assets to pursue a purpose defined by the founder.

Legal regulation

The legal bases are the Private Foundation Act (PSG) and the Savings Bank Act as well as the (mostly old) fund and foundation laws of the federal states and the federal government.

The private foundation is established by means of a notarized declaration of foundation and is created when it is entered in the commercial register ( Section 7 PSG).

As a major difference to other European foundation laws, an Austrian private foundation can have a purely private law purpose; this shows similarities to the historical legal form of the family entrepre- neurship. Austrian foundations essentially serve to manage assets, the donated core assets . In contrast to the foundation under civil law under German law, you are not allowed to engage in any commercial activity. Private foundations can be charitable , but do not have to be. They are predominantly built for private purposes. Mixed forms are called double-utility.

The private foundation must have a board of directors consisting of at least three people. Beneficiaries, their spouses and close relatives cannot become members of the Foundation Board. Unlike in Germany, for example, it is not possible for the founder to appoint himself to the sole director and thus control the distributions to his family.

If assets are transferred to a private foundation with a private benefit, a reduced tax rate applies ( foundation input tax ). When distributing funds to the beneficiaries, the private foundation must pay capital gains tax on the amount distributed to the tax office for the account of the beneficiary. As a result, the transfer to the foundation is taxed low and there is a subsequent taxation for the distribution.

See also

literature

  • Christian Gassauer-Fleissner, Christian Grave: Foundation law - private foundation law, federal foundation and fund law as well as state foundation and fund laws (excerpts from savings bank law, insurance supervision law and ORF law) with explanatory remarks and decisions. 2nd edition, Manz Verlag, Vienna 2008.

Web links

Commons : Foundations  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Private Foundation Austrian Chamber of Commerce , July 9, 2019
  2. ↑ Federal Law on Private Foundations (Privatstiftungsgesetz - PSG) RIS , accessed on December 12, 2019
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Scheuber: The "Family Supply Foundation" - A Revival of Family Fideikommisse? In: Constanze Fischer-Czermak, Andreas Kletecka, Martin Schauer, Wolfgang Zankl (eds.): Festschrift Rudolf Welser - On the 65th birthday (= MANZ Verlag Wien [ed.]: Various . No. XVI ). 1st edition. MANZ Verlag Wien, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-214-14932-1 , p. 931 (1288 pp.).