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Companies
Foundation | Establishment | Stock corporation |
Trust/ trust company | Foreign companies

The foundation is the most frequently-used legal form in the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Possible aims of the foundation include:
  • discreet asset administration,
  • settling the succession of the founder,
  • securing the economic future of family members or other close individuals in the form of maintenance arrangements, for example,
  • functioning as a holding to safeguard a corporate portfolio,
  • perpetuating the life's work of the founder (e.g. art collections),
  • charitable purposes.
In contrast to other legal forms, such as the establishment or the stock corporation, the foundation may not pursue any commercial interests.

The foundation is established by a founder dedicating assets to a specific purpose in favour of a specific or specifiable beneficiary. Once raised to the status of a legal entity, these assets no longer form part of the private assets of the founder but form the foundation assets.

The beneficiaries are the usufructuaries of the foundation, whereby the payment of dividends to beneficiaries may also be made subject to conditions or rules. The beneficiaries are named by the founder in a separate instrument, resembling a last will and testament - the ancillary articles of association.

The foundation is administered by the foundation board, made up of at least two members. The foundation board exercises the wishes of the founder as recorded in the articles of association and the ancillary articles of association.

The founder may make provision in the articles of association for further bodies - such as an advisory board, a board of trustees or a protector - to advise and support the foundation board, e.g. when paying out dividends to beneficiaries. These may also exercise a controlling function.

The minimum capital required to establish a foundation is CHF 30,000.00.

As a rule, the foundation does not have to keep accounts. However, it is advisable to draw up an annual schedule of assets.

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Our office building in Vaduz
Our office building
in Vaduz

Euromanagement & Trust Company Establishment
FL-9490 Vaduz, Meierhofstrasse 2, PO Box 135, Liechtenstein
Tel. +423 236 11 00, Fax +423 236 11 01
office@euromanagement.li - www.euromanagement.li