Anstalt

An Anstalt or Anstalt partnership is a type of incorporated organisation.[1]

Characteristics

An Anstalt is a hybrid between a company limited by shares and a foundation.[2] An Anstalt is an entity, which has no members,[3] participants or shareholders.[4] It differs from a company in that it has no duty to return profit and differs from a trust in that it has no obligation to a beneficiary.[5] Anstalt do have, however, a holder of the founder’s rights. The founder can be either a legal person or a natural person, need not be resident in the host country and Anstalt must have a minimum capital of CHF 30 000 (approximately USD 33 800).[6] There is also no need for the founder identity to be notified to the registration office.

These features, and the founders rights, and because an Anstalt can conduct many kinds of business, including non-trading activities (such as holding passive investments), has made them popular with foreign companies who use them as a holding company for overseas subsidiaries when trying to minimise tax in their home jurisdictions. That is Anstalt are a safe/easy place to park assets at tax time.

Types

There are two types of Anstalt; commercial and non-commercial, and they feature prominently in the finance system of Liechtenstein,[7] where they are considered to be a Public Law Institution, though they are not able to be listed on the Stock Exchange.[8]

Differences and uniqueness

Anstalt differ from the related entities called stiftung in that Anstalt can conduct all kinds of business activities. Anstalt are seen as different to Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, a corporate type found in many German-speaking countries, which do feature members and participants.

Anstalt are a civil law creation and no direct common law analogue exists.[9] Common law courts have tended to treat Anstalt that are “limited by shares”, as a company, and those without shares (the majority) are sometimes (though not always[10]) treated as a constructive trust.[11]

Numbers of Anstalt
Number of Anstalt in Liechtenstein[12]
14841
14578
13835
12721
11486
10535
9423
8461
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Etymology

The name Anstalt means "Institution" or "Establishment".[13] which comes from the Middle High German Anstalt and means to set up [Public] purpose for a particular purpose and the building which houses it.[14]

See also

References
  1. FATF guidance: Transparency and Beneficial Ownership,(October 2014) page 14.
  2. Going Offshore : Liechtenstein "ANSTALT" (Establishment) .
  3. In this Anstalt are seen as in contrast to the more common corporate entity, Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, found in many German-speaking countries.
  4. Tax Residence of Individuals & Companies April 07, 2016.
  5. Going Offshore : Liechtenstein "ANSTALT" (Establishment) .
  6. An Investigator’S Guide To Company Ownership Information In Liechtenstein (UNODC) p3.
  7. An Investigator’S Guide To Company Ownership Information In Liechtenstein (UNODC) p7.
  8. Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, Michelle Everson, European Competition Law Annual 1999: Selected Issues in the Field of State Aids (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001) p368.
  9. Robert Gordon TEP, International Inheritance & Wealth Planning Issues (May 07, 2015).
  10. see ashburn anstalt v Arnold 1989 ch 1 ca.
  11. see McGhee v National Coal Board, [1972] 3 All E.R. 1008, 1 W.L.R. 1.
  12. Die Angaben zum Jahr 2007/2008 sind unsicher und vermutlich eine Hochrechnung.
  13. Anstalt translation | German-English dictionary.
  14. Institution, the Word type: ℹ noun, feminine at Duden.de.
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