Notary Costs in Germany: What GmbH Founders Pay and What EU Inc Removes

Notarization adds roughly 800 EUR in fees and a large share of the 4 to 6 week formation timeline to a German GmbH, and there is no legal way around it. The proposed EU Inc removes the step entirely: under COM(2026) 321, member states may not impose a notarial deed, and total incorporation cost is targeted at under 100 EUR. For German founders, the notary is where the two systems differ most concretely – in euros and in weeks.

The European Commission made the contrast explicit when it presented EU Inc on March 18, 2026: registration of the new company form is to be fully online, completed within 48 hours, with no notary required. This article breaks down what that actually replaces in Germany's formation process.

Why German company formation runs through a notary

German law requires the articles of association of a GmbH (and its 1-euro variant, the UG) to be notarized. The notary verifies the founders' identities, certifies the formation documents, and files the registration with the commercial register (Handelsregister). The company legally exists only after this chain completes.

The function is real – the notary acts as a gatekeeper for register integrity – but it is also a bottleneck. Every formation needs an appointment, every change to articles needs another one, and GmbH share transfers require notarization as well. The cost follows the company through its whole life, not just at formation.

What the notary step costs

Notary fees in Germany are set by statute (GNotKG), so they are predictable but not negotiable. For a standard GmbH formation, the figures the industry consistently reports:

• Notarization of a standard formation: approximately 800 EUR. Formation service providers put a full GmbH formation at roughly 27,000 to 29,500 EUR including the 25,000 EUR share capital – the notary is the largest fee component after the capital itself.
• Commercial register entry: around 150 EUR with cash contributions, around 240 EUR with contributions in kind.
• Simplified path: a UG founded with the Musterprotokoll cuts notary costs substantially (typically to a low three-digit amount), but it caps the structure at three shareholders and one director and still requires the appointment.

The indirect cost is time. Germany has permitted digital notarization since 2022, but in practice the online path often takes longer or runs into authentication problems, and formation still typically takes 4 to 6 weeks end to end.

What EU Inc proposes instead

The proposal replaces the notarial gate with a digital one. EU Inc companies are to be incorporated through a single EU interface built on the existing Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS), within 48 hours, for a maximum cost of 100 EUR. The provision that matters for Germany: member states may not impose additional formalities, such as a notarial deed.

The digital-only principle extends past formation. Shareholder and board meetings, share issuance, capital increases, and share transfers are all designed to run digitally – the recurring notarization costs that follow a GmbH through its lifecycle have no equivalent in the proposal.

What this does not mean

Three honest caveats. First, EU Inc is a proposal: the notary-free design must survive Council negotiations, and the role of notaries is precisely the kind of provision member states contest – expect Germany's notarial profession to argue for safeguards. Second, the under-100-EUR figure is the Commission's target for incorporation, not a guarantee of total setup cost; banking, tax registration, and advice are separate in any system. Third, German notaries do more than stamp documents – founders who value the built-in legal counseling will need to source it separately.

The European Parliament backed the overall concept 492-144-28 in January 2026, and EU leaders endorsed an end-2026 deadline for political agreement. Whether the no-notary rule survives intact is one of the specific points worth watching on our timeline.

Bottom line

For a German founder, the notary requirement is not the largest cost of a GmbH – the 25,000 EUR capital is – but it is the most rigid one: fixed fees, mandatory appointments, and repeat visits for every structural change. EU Inc's proposal eliminates that entire category. If the regulation passes in its proposed form, the practical question for 2027 becomes whether you still need a German-law company, or just a company that works in Germany.

See how the forms compare across all criteria in our comparison table, or check your situation with the assessment tool.