Founding a company online in Germany: who can actually do it

Since 1 August 2022 you can found a GmbH or UG in Germany without going anywhere. The notary appointment happens by video, you sign electronically, and the company gets registered.

The part nobody states clearly is who is actually eligible. A significant number of founders start the process, reach the identification step, and discover they cannot complete it — usually because of which ID card they hold.

Here is what it requires, before you commit to it.

What can be done online

The legal basis is §§ 16a–16e BeurkG, together with § 2 Abs. 3 GmbHG.

Cash formations of a GmbH or UG have been possible since August 2022. The scope was extended in 2023 to certain formations with contributions in kind, and to unanimous shareholder resolutions amending the articles — including capital increases.

Signature certification for register filings can also be done by video (§ 40a BeurkG), and since DiREG that applies regardless of legal form (§ 12 Abs. 1 S. 2 HGB). Without it you would save the trip for the formation and take it for the filing.

What still requires attending in person: transfers of existing GmbH shares, and anything where stricter form requirements apply — bringing real estate or existing GmbH shares into the company, for instance.

The two-step identification, and where it fails

You identify yourself twice, in a specific order, and both steps read from the chip in your ID document.

Step one: the eID. The chip's identity data is read using your smartphone and a PIN. Accepted documents are the German Personalausweis, the electronic residence permit (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel), the EU eID card, and comparable European electronic identity means at assurance level "high" under eIDAS.

Step two: the photograph. A separate technical process reads the photo from the chip and compares it against your face on camera.

This second step is where people fail. The photo can only be read from German ID cards issued since 2 August 2021, and from passports, electronic residence permits and European ID documents. If your German ID card predates that, the eID may work and the photo read will not.

The practical answer if you are in that position: use your passport, which can be read regardless of age. If you have neither a post-2021 ID card nor a passport, the online route is closed to you.

Who this rules out

Non-EU nationals without a German electronic residence permit. If your country's ID has no eID function recognised at eIDAS level "high" — which is most non-EU countries — you cannot identify yourself, however willing your notary is.

Anyone whose German ID card predates August 2021 and who has no passport.

Anyone without a smartphone that can read the chip. The chip is read by NFC, so the phone needs that hardware and the official app.

One participant who can't doesn't ruin it

This is the most useful thing in this article, and almost nobody states it.

A mixed appointment is expressly permitted (§ 16e BeurkG). Some participants attend in person at the notary's office while others join by video, in a single appointment.

So a shareholder whose passport cannot be read, or who holds a non-EU ID with no recognised eID, does not force everyone into a room. They attend in person; everyone else joins from wherever they are.

One procedural consequence: in a mixed appointment the notary produces a paper record alongside the electronic one, signed by whoever is physically present.

For an internationally owned company this is usually the difference between one person travelling and four.

What you need on the day

A laptop or desktop with camera and microphone — around 480p and 6 Mbit/s is enough
A smartphone with NFC, running the official Notar-App. The chip is read wirelessly, so the phone needs that hardware. There is an official list of compatible devices at ausweisapp.bund.de
Your ID document, and the PIN for its eID function
A stable internet connection

Only one system is permitted

The appointment runs on the Bundesnotarkammer's own video communication system (§ 16a Abs. 1 BeurkG). Notaries are not allowed to use Zoom, Teams or anything else, so a "digital formation" offered over an ordinary video call is not an online notarisation.

Your notary also cannot simply decline the online route because they would rather not — refusal is only permitted where their official duties could not be met (§ 16a Abs. 2 BeurkG).

Documents and drafts are exchanged through the same system. Signing is by qualified electronic signature, which the platform provides; the notary then certifies it.

What it costs

Statutory notary fees are identical to an in-person appointment. The saving is travel and time, not money. UG vs GmbH sets out what those fees actually come to for each legal form, and the cost calculator will price your own formation.

There is a small expenses charge for the video procedure: €25 per online recording and €8 per online certification. A formation usually involves both, so roughly €33 on top. Where several electronic signatures are certified in one note, the €8 is charged once rather than per signature.

You can choose your notary — by choosing the seat

For a video notarisation, which notary has jurisdiction follows the registered seat of the company being formed (§ 10a Abs. 3 BNotO). That sounds restrictive and mostly is not, because you choose the registered seat.

It does not have to match where anyone lives or where the business operates. A shareholder in Cologne can found, before a notary in Aachen, a company with a Düsseldorf business address and a managing director in Bonn — provided the registered seat is Aachen.

So if you want a particular notary, the registered seat is the lever. Worth settling before you start rather than after.

When to just go in person

If your formation is complicated, go in person. The video procedure works well for a straightforward company with participants who all hold suitable documents. It removes travel; it does not remove complexity.

And do not expect it to be dramatically faster. What sets the pace is notary availability and the register court, neither of which changes because you did not travel. Once you are registered, the calendar that matters is the filing one — your first twelve months covers what a new company actually has to file, and when.

Before you start

Check three things for each participant and you will know within ten minutes who can join by video and who cannot.

Ask this of every shareholder and managing director, one at a time.

Do they hold the right document? A German ID card issued since August 2021, a passport, an electronic residence permit, or an EU eID card. A German ID card issued before August 2021 does not qualify on its own.
Do they know the eID PIN? The six-digit PIN for the card's eID function — not the card PIN, and not the PUK. If it was never activated or the letter is lost, this takes a trip to the registration office and some weeks.
Do they have a phone that can read the chip? An NFC-capable smartphone running the official Notar-App. The compatibility list is at ausweisapp.bund.de.

Three yeses and that person can join from anywhere. A single no means that person attends in person — and, because a mixed appointment is permitted, only that person.

How Delegro helps

Formation for both UG and GmbH, with the notary appointment coordinated for you — online where every participant qualifies, in person or mixed where they do not
A document check on each shareholder before the appointment is booked, so nobody discovers the problem on the day
The filings that follow registration, on the deadlines they are actually due

Ready to start?

Price your formation in the cost calculator, or take the company quiz if the legal form is still open.

Sources: § 2 Abs. 3 GmbHG; §§ 16a–16e, 40a BeurkG; §§ 10a, 69b, 78p BNotO; § 12 HGB; eIDAS Regulation Art. 6 and Annex II; Bundesnotarkammer; IHK Karlsruhe and IHK Potsdam guidance. Current as of August 2026.