General – founding & basics · 1.6
Business Account: How Does the GmbH's Money Reach You?
Your GmbH is a separate legal entity and requires its own bank account. Its money does not belong to you. It only reaches you via established pathways: as a salary, as a profit distribution, or as a loan—each requiring a contract or shareholder resolution.
Key points
- You open the account during the formation phase (GmbH in Gründung) and pay in the share capital (Stammkapital).
- Salary: governed by a managing director employment contract (Geschäftsführer-Anstellungsvertrag).
- Profit distribution (Gewinnausschüttung): based on a shareholder resolution once the annual financial statements are finalized.
- Loan: with a written agreement and market-rate interest.
- If you paid for GmbH expenses personally, the company reimburses you against receipts.
If the GmbH covers private expenses or transfers funds to you without a legal basis, this can be classified as a constructive dividend (verdeckte Gewinnausschüttung). The amount is then added back to the GmbH's taxable profit and taxed in your hands as a dividend. Moreover, the share capital may not be returned to shareholders under any circumstances.
Legal basis
§ 7 GmbHG§ 8 GmbHG§ 30 GmbHG§ 8 KStG
Continue
- Next video: Trade Registration: Who Must Register, and What Happens Next?
- Related: What is a hidden profit distribution?
- Related: Managing Director Salary: What Is Allowed?
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