Founding a Foundation in Germany: Statutes, Legal Form, and Costs
Comprehensive advice on the costs, design of statutes, and foundation law during the establishment of a foundation
A wide variety of motives inspires individuals, associations, clubs, businesses, and public bodies to create a foundation. Individuals often harbor the desire to contribute positively to society by setting up their own charitable foundations. Similarly, public bodies, associations, and companies strive to promote the general welfare through their foundations. For associations and businesses, the marketing impact linked with the foundation’s creation often proves alluring. In cases of wealth and business succession, establishing a family foundation presents a viable option.

Creating a foundation: a step-by-step guide
1. Is the foundation's legal form suitable?
The journey to establish your foundation commences with an initial consideration of the foundation’s legal form’s suitability for your envisioned project. Leveraging our years of experience in foundation law, we support you in making this crucial decision. Once you’re convinced about creating a foundation, we collaborate to decide which type of foundation aligns best with your vision and tax situation.
2. Planning asset transfer and timing of foundation creation
During the creation of the foundation, assets must be transferred to the foundation via the act of formation. It’s crucial to maintain a clear view of the founder’s specific asset situation:
- Which assets should be transferred to the foundation at the time of creation?
- Which assets does the founder wish to retain?
- Are intermediate steps necessary, e.g., transferring assets like real estate but retaining usage rights?
- How should one proceed if not only private assets exist but also company assets, i.e., shares in companies and societies?
The timing of the asset transfer is also significant: founders should ensure not to divest all their assets at the time of the foundation’s creation. Initially, only a portion known as the endowment should be transferred. The remaining assets can follow, e.g., upon the founder’s demise. From a tax perspective, the reverse path may be more sensible, i.e., increasing the assets transferred during the founder’s lifetime at the expense of the share bequeathed to the foundation upon death.
Creating a foundation by will, typically through a testament, is seldom advisable due to various legal and tax implications. A foundation by will is usually established because the founder did not adequately consider the foundation’s creation during their lifetime. However, the foundation’s creation should be correctly initiated during the founder’s lifetime!
3. Designing the foundation's constitution
The most critical step in creating a foundation in Germany is designing a suitable constitution. It’s imperative that the constitution is tailored to your personal situation. This is even more significant when creating a foundation than with all other legal forms, as the foundation’s constitution is often challenging to alter post-establishment. Many founders overlook this point, relying too hastily on constitution templates provided by foundation regulatory authorities. Even the best foundation project will fail if, after years, participants realize their constitution cannot adapt to changed circumstances or is too rigidly constructed.
Depending on the life situation and actual foundation project, drafting and coordinating the constitution with you can take from a few days to several months.
4. Coordination with the foundation regulatory authority
Once the individual foundation constitution is drafted, coordination with the foundation regulatory authority follows. In the case of a carefully designed constitution, this is usually a mere formality. However, for complex and large foundation establishments, or conversely, for foundations with very low or non-liquid assets (e.g., pure real estate assets), this coordination may take longer. Our concern in discussions with the regulatory authority is always to enforce the founder’s ideas as much as possible. Establishing a trust foundation does not require coordination with the regulatory authority. Since a foundation project can fail due to an unsuitable trustee, careful consideration should be given when choosing the foundation trustee who manages the trust foundation. We are happy to make appropriate recommendations.
5. Coordination with the competent German tax office
Coordination with the tax office is usually a formality. However, it must not be overlooked in the journey to founding the foundation, as it could lead to tax problems later, especially when establishing a foundation that pursues charitable purposes and is extensively tax-privileged by law.
Setting up a foundation in Germany at a fixed price
In order to support you in founding a German foundation, we prepared three different packages. We offer all of the following services in English or German.
Basic
- 15-minute short initial call to clarify the facts and discuss our cooperation (if it turns out that chosen package is not suitable: rebooking to other package possible)
- 1 hour telephone consultation for detailed discussion of the facts and circumstances as well as your wishes and goals
- If Orientation Plus Package was booked in advance: Discussion of the statement and its results
- Detailed guide for establishing the German foundation: i.e. description of the specific steps required to establish the foundation
- Drafting of bilingual (German/English) statutes of the foundation to be established (preparation of the foundation agreement not included) based on the client's specifications, including 2 work loops (further work loops on an hourly rate basis or after upgrading to Founder Package or All inclusive Package)
- Telephone conference to discuss the outcome (guideline/statutes) and the next steps to be taken (max. 2 hours)
- We offer this service at a fixed price. Please contact us for more information about pricing.
- Further option (not included in the fixed price): Drafting of a bilingual (German/English) foundation agreement based on the client's specifications incl. 2 work loops
Founder
Includes all services of the Basic Package, as well as:
- Drafting of a bilingual (German/English) foundation agreement based on the client's specifications (incl. 2 work loops)
- Assistance in the complete establishment of the foundation. This includes the following services:
- Making adjustments to the statutes, if necessary (2 work loops incl. 2 telephone conferences of 1 hour; further work loops based on hourly rates)
- Request for a preliminary review of the final draft of the statutes by the German tax authorities for the purpose of recognizing the foundaton as a tax-exempt organization (2 work loops; further work loops based on hourly rates)
- Coordination of the statutes and the foundation agreement with the responsible foundation supervisory authority
- Registration of the foundation with the foundation supervisory authority
- Entry in the Transparency Register
- After founding of the entity, request of determination letter (so called “determination of compliance with statute-related preconditions”) from the tax authorities according to Section 60a German Fiscal Code
- 1 hour final consultation by phone
- We offer this service at a fixed price. Please contact us for more information about pricing.
All inclusive
Includes all services of the Basic Package and the Founder Package, as well as
- Tax registration, opening balance sheet
- Setting up nonprofit accounting plus 10% discount on nonprofit accounting in the first year and 5% in the second year after establishment
- Setting up payroll accounting plus 10% discount on payroll accounting in the first and 5% in the second year after establishment
- Managing director service contract (2 work loops)
- Business address (PO box) with postal service at our office for the first 12 months
- Annual status consultation for the first 2 years
- Discounts on the available add-ons (see below)
- We offer this service at a fixed price. Please contact us for more information about pricing.
Add-ons
- Recruiting by WINHELLER
Benefit from the years of experience of our HR team! We help you find the right personnel for your organization. - Legal and tax advisory services at an hourly rate
We are happy to offer you any additional legal or tax services at a fair rate, e.g. assistance in setting up a German bank account. - Business address with us
Register your Business address (PO box) with postal service at our office in Frankfurt/Main.

Contact us at +49 69 76 75 77 80 or info@winheller.com!
No package fits your needs? Your case is so individual that we cannot provide optimal coverage with our package offers? We are as individual and flexible as you need us to be: Of course, you are more than welcome to book us at our usual hourly rates right from the start in order to book individual services. Just get in touch with us!
The starting point: Recognition by the foundation regulatory authority
The foundation is established as an independent legal entity as soon as it is formally recognized by the foundation regulatory authority. We will submit the corresponding application for you. The foundation’s creation is thus completed, and the foundation can now commence its work.
Costs of creating a foundation in Germany
The cost of creating a foundation depends on the individual case. Creating a foundation that clearly pursues charitable purposes and is equipped with a sufficient amount of cash costs significantly less than creating a foundation that is to be equipped with less profitable real estate assets. In the former case, the coordination with the responsible authorities will also proceed much faster than in the latter case. This also reduces the costs.
The individual consulting services around the foundation’s creation in Germany are always time-intensive, on topics like:
- Choice of the right type of foundation
- Tax optimization
- Impact of the foundation’s creation on the founder’s family
Sometimes, it can be beneficial for an entrepreneur to establish two foundations (double foundation model). The effort is greater than establishing just one foundation. However, thorough advice tailored to the individual case can yield enormous tax advantages. At the end of the day, the founder’s concern is not whether they saved a few thousand euros in consulting costs during the establishment but whether their project has yielded an overall payoff, considering the consulting costs. We are happy to work on that.
Your attorney for creating a German foundation
Would you like to create a foundation in Germany? Our experts in foundation law are eager to assist you.
You can reach our attorneys for creating your foundation most easily by e-mail (info@winheller.com) or by phone (+49 69 76 75 77 85 24).
Do you need support?
Do you have questions about our services or would you like to arrange a personal consultation? We look forward to hearing from you! Please fill in the following information.
Or give us a call: +49 69 76 75 77 85 24