Open Trading Company (oHG)

The legal form of an open trading company (oHG) is not without danger, since each shareholder assumes full personal liability. This is exactly the reason why the open trading company (oHG) enjoys a high credit rating with banks and business partners.

The advantages of the open trading company (oHG) are not only limited to the fact that they – different than the private limited liability company (GmbH) – don’t require any minimum start-up capital. It can also be attractive from a tax law perspective: The profits from the open trading company (oHG) are not subject to corporation tax. In fact, distributed dividend profits represent income of the shareholders, which is subject to income tax together with other forms of income. By the amount of the dividend distribution, the taxable income can thus be controlled and optimized under tax law aspects. Those who want to combine these advantages with a liability limitation, will establish either a private limited partnership (KG) or a private limited company & private limited partnership company (GmbH & Co. KG).