scholarly journals GmbH and UG (Mini-GmbH): Protection of creditors in German law

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 134-148
Author(s):  
Jovana Joksović

One of the most widespread forms of companies, not only in our, but also in other jurisdictions, are limited liability companies. This form gives clear advantages to its founders, but at the same time endangers the creditor's settlement. In this paper, the author lists and describes the ways of protecting the company's creditors in the German law, namely the creditors of GmbH and the newer UG (Mini-GmbH) with brief reviews of Serbian law and d.o.o. First of all, there is a possible liability of shareholders and directors of German companies in the very stage of establishment. Furthermore, payments to shareholders from the assets that are necessary to cover the share capital are prohibited. In addition to its legal minimum share capital of EUR 25.000, GmbH contains further institutes for adequate creditor protection, which makes it attractive not only to the founders, but also to its creditors. In 2008, with the Law on Modernization of the Rights of Limited Liability Companies and the Fight against Abuses (MoMiG), the German legal system introduced a new legal form of simplified GmbH (UG), which has the same nature with a few special characteristics. This is primarily the possibility of founding a company below the prescribed legal minimum of the share capital, namely 1 Euro. This legal form should be an alternative to the English "Limited", which was "flooding" the German market back then. This advantage brings certain restrictions, first of all in terms of capital maintenance rules. Due to the fact that d.o.o. has significant similarities with the general rules that apply to these legal forms of the German system, primarily due to similarities with UG in the form of a minimum share capital of 100 dinars, the characteristics and solutions of German law for the protection of creditors of this legal form will be analysed. At the end comes a brief review of the institute "piercing a corporate veil" in the German law system.

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-145
Author(s):  
Vladimir Marjanski ◽  
Attila Dudás

In Serbia, the legal status of limited liability companies (LLCs; društvo sa ograničenom odgovornošću, d.o.o.) is for the most part regulated by the Companies Act (Zakon o privrednim društvima). All four basic legal forms of company are regulated by this Act. Unlike in Austria and Germany, there are no special laws on LLCs and joint stock companies (JSCs). Regulating all legal forms of a company with the same act, including procedures for their liquidation, status changes (acquisition, merger, division, and spin-off), and changes of legal form, may be considered a conceptual shortcoming of the regulation relating to LLCs and of company law in Serbia in general. A specific law would enable legislators to tailor detailed rules pertaining only to LLCs, in which all peculiarities of this legal form of companies might be better addressed. Furthermore, there are relatively numerous legal norms applicable to JSCs, the appropriate application of which is can be legally extended to LLCs. However, most of them are not conceptually applicable due to the different nature of JSCs and LLCs. In addition, company law will have to undergo significant changes in upcoming years due to the process of accession of Serbia to the European Union and the fulfilment of the conditions contained in chapter 6 of the accession negotiations pertaining to company law.


Author(s):  
Imogen Moore

The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the law on share capital for public and private companies. The doctrine of capital maintenance ensures that the company has raised the capital it claims to have raised; and that the capital is not subsequently returned, directly or indirectly, to the shareholders. There is a great deal of (mainly statutory) law surrounding this doctrine This chapter considers the capital maintenance doctrine itself and many related topics, including: the issue of shares for non-cash consideration, issue of shares at a discount, reduction of capital, purchase of a company’s own shares, redeemable shares, payment of dividends, and financial assistance by a company for the purchase of its own shares.


Author(s):  
Imogen Moore

The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter considers the main legal forms used for businesses in the UK—particularly sole traders, general partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and companies (public and private). It then examines how registered companies limited by shares come into existence. On registration a company becomes a legal person, separate from its shareholders and directors. This chapter explores this ‘corporate personality’ and the popular topic of when the ‘veil of incorporation’ can be lifted or pierced by statute or the courts.


Author(s):  
Imogen Moore

The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the law on share capital. The doctrine of capital maintenance ensures that the company has raised the capital it claims to have raised; and that the capital is not subsequently returned, directly or indirectly, to the shareholders. There is a great deal of (mainly statutory) law surrounding this doctrine This chapter considers the capital maintenance doctrine itself and many related topics, including: the issue of shares for non-cash consideration; issue of shares at a discount; reduction of capital; purchase of a company’s own shares; redeemable shares; payment of dividends; and financial assistance by a company for the purchase of its own shares.


Author(s):  
Imogen Moore

The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the law on share capital. The doctrine of capital maintenance ensures that the company has raised the capital it claims to have raised; and that the capital is not subsequently returned, directly or indirectly, to the shareholders. There is a great deal of (mainly statutory) law surrounding this doctrine This chapter considers the capital maintenance doctrine itself and many related topics, including the issue of shares for non-cash consideration; issue of shares at a discount; reduction of capital; purchase of a company’s own shares; redeemable shares; payment of dividends; and financial assistance by a company for the purchase of its own shares.


2019 ◽  
pp. 93-116
Author(s):  
Paweł Sancewicz

The purpose of this paper was to present views of both Polish and German public law doctrine on the issue of the possibility to choose a legal form of implementa­tion of public tasks by the public administration. This issue is not only a theoretical matter because currently administration has to cope with increasingly complex and complicated public tasks that must be implemented. The article first explains the concept of the legal forms of action, distinguished from the measures available in administration. Next, the freedom of choice of the legal form of action as well as the instances of its abuse are analysed. The considerations carried out in the article allow to adopt the position that the choice of the legal form of action by public administration cannot be actually prejudged under Polish law. The main limitation of the freedom to choose the le­gal form of action is contained in Article 7 read in connection with Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland which stipulate a legal framework that ought to embrace them. There is also a concern that the authorities may abuse certain forms of action in order to, for example, avoid certain administrative procedures or to achieve desired fiscal objectives. As indicated in the course of the analysis, the German doctrine and practice encountered similar problems, and now the experi­ence and undoubted successes of German law and practice could be a significant inspiration for Polish lawmakers in this area. De lege ferenda, it is necessary to propose the introduction of legal regulations that will enable or facilitate a free choice of the legal form of action by administra­tive bodies. However, establishing such regulations will only be possible and and effective when the administrative agreement becomes part of the Polish legal system.


Author(s):  
Imogen Moore

The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter considers the main legal forms used for businesses in the UK— particularly sole traders, general partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and companies. It then examines how registered companies limited by shares come into existence. On registration a company becomes a legal person, separate from its shareholders and directors. This chapter explores this ‘corporate personality’ and the popular topic of when the ‘veil of incorporation’ can be lifted or pierced by statute or the courts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44
Author(s):  
Gareth G. Morgan

AbstractThe specific legal forms available for charitable organisations have received much less attention by scholars as compared to work on the definition of charity, the boundaries of charitable status and the duties of charity trustees. Under each of the three UK jurisdictions, it could be argued that all charitable property is held on trust (in the sense that it is held for interests of the charity’s beneficiaries) but many charities are no longer formed using the structure of a trust. Charitable organisations can have many possible structures including charitable trusts, charitable associations, charitable companies and now charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs). Until recently the UK lacked any specific legal form for charities. The CIO was created to remedy this: a corporate body with limited liability, formed purely by registration with the appropriate charity regulator. Since 2008 it has been enshrined in statute in all three UK jurisdictions, though implementation dates only from 2011 in Scotland and from 2013 in England and Wales. The focus of this paper is a comparison of the CIO form in the three UK charity law jurisdictions. It analyses the frameworks for CIOs established in England and Wales, Scottish CIOs (SCIOs) and the (yet to be implemented) CIOs in Northern Ireland. It concludes that whilst the CIO concept is effectively reflected in all three jurisdictions, the differences between these three types of CIOs are much more than just those needed to comply with the different regimes of charity regulation – the differences raise important choices for those seeking to establish new charities operating UK-wide.


Author(s):  
Lea Jančičková ◽  
◽  
Renáta Pakšiová ◽  

Since 2015, the tax advantage of the R&D of entrepreneurs in Slovakia has been in the form of indirect support of innovation and creativity in companies. It could be a competitive advantage for the entrepreneurs who apply them. They are important on the revenue level, e.g. in the creation of a new product and on the cost level, in streamlining the conduct of business. This article aims to analyze the application of super-deduction in tax due to R&D carried out by entrepreneurs in Slovakia from the first year and focuses on R&D in the Slovak Republic from 2015 to 2018. Theoretical interpretations of R&D in legislative standards at transnational and national levels, different tax policies on innovation and gross domestic spending are defined at the outset. The theoretical background is important from the point of view of understanding the R&D in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, where the following quantitative research is carried out. As the main method of investigation, we used the quantitative analysis and comparison that we use to compare the increasing number of companies that used the R&D cost (expenditure) deduction in the context of legal form in the period considered for the years 2015 to 2018 and the amounts of applied super-deduction for individual types of companies. The performed quantitative analysis shows a weak use of the provided income tax relief in the form of super-deduction of costs in connection with the implementation of R&D by companies in Slovakia, despite the year-on-year growing trend. Due to the relative representation of individual legal forms of entities in Slovakia, according to our research, Limited Liability Companies apply a super-deduction of R&D costs annually in the period under review. The number of these entities is constantly growing, as is the amount of the super-deduction applied. Based on the findings, we can state that the increased percentage deduction rate had a positive effect on the motivation of entrepreneurs to apply incentives.


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