Setting Up a Liechtenstein Foundation

Forming a foundation for third parties and taking Art. 180a board mandates are trustee activities under the Trustee Act (Art. 2(a), (b)); doing either as a business without a licence is a criminal offence (Art. 80(1)). ABB collects the documents and prepares the draft. The licensed trustee forms the foundation, files it and supplies the Art. 180a member.

Charitable foundations, and private foundations that run a business in commercial form, must be entered. Other private-benefit foundations may be entered; if they are not, the council deposits a formation notice within 30 days. Their papers go only to the depositor and persons authorised; third parties get a reserved part by certificate.

The foundation deed carries the mandatory content listed in PGR Art. 552 § 16(1). A supplementary deed exists only if the founder reserved it, and regulations only if the deed reserves them; regulations issued by the founder prevail over the council's. What sits where is a drafting decision taken with the licensed trustee.

Only what the deed reserves. A founder may reserve rights to revoke the foundation or amend its documents; these rights cannot be assigned or inherited, and a founder that is a legal person cannot reserve them. Where the deed is silent about the use of the assets after a revocation, the founder counts as the ultimate beneficiary.

Only the foundation assets are liable for its debts, and there is no duty to make further contributions. Heirs or creditors may still challenge the transfer of assets like a gift. In a family foundation the founder may provide that a beneficiary's creditors cannot reach the beneficiary's free-of-charge entitlement, within the limits of the statute.

Charitable foundations are supervised; a private-benefit foundation is supervised only if its deed says so. The supervisory authority is the Office of Justice, called the Stiftungs- und Trustaufsichtsbehörde since 1 July 2026. For a supervised foundation the court appoints an audit body, which must be independent of the foundation.

The council manages and represents the foundation. It has at least two members, and legal persons may be members. At least one member must meet PGR Art. 180a where the rule applies, and the exemption does not cover supervised foundations. Whether you can sit on the council yourself is checked case by case by the licensed trustee.

A beneficiary has a legal claim if the deed, the supplementary deed or the regulations give one. A discretionary beneficiary gains a claim only when the council validly resolves an actual distribution. When the foundation ends and no ultimate beneficiary is named, the assets that remain after liquidation go to the state.

A foundation is an independent pool of assets created by a written declaration with certified signatures. A trust is a written agreement between settlor and trustee, and a trust created for more than twelve months is filed for entry in the commercial register within 30 days. The table above compares the three without recommending one.

The statutory minimum income tax is CHF 1,800 a year, subject to the exception in SteG Art. 62(3). A structure the Tax Administration recognises as a private asset structure pays only the minimum tax and is not assessed. The assets of a revocable foundation are attributed to the founder. This is general information; the licensed trustee advises.

The minimum capital is CHF 30,000, and it may also be raised in euro or US dollars. The foundation deed must dedicate assets of at least that amount, and the council confirms in the registration application or the formation notice that the minimum capital is at the foundation's free disposal.

A register entry costs CHF 700 and a notice deposit CHF 300; a foundation pays one of the two, by its path. Each registered signing authority adds CHF 30 and each registered function CHF 20. A certificate costs CHF 15, and the formation levy is 2 per mille of the capital, at least CHF 200. Our fee is quoted on request.

A council member who does not deposit a formation or change notice can be fined up to CHF 10,000 by the Landgericht. A deliberately wrong declaration in the notice is fined up to CHF 50,000 and a negligent one up to CHF 20,000. The lawyer, trustee or Art. 180a holder who gives a wrong confirmation is punished in the same way.

The first report is due within 30 days of the register entry or of the formation notice, and changes within 30 days of knowledge. External access was lost after the cyberattack of 30 July 2026 and resumed on 5 October 2026, at first after identification in person in Vaduz. Deadlines that cannot be met stay suspended.