Company formation in Luxembourg for wealthy families, run by someone who holds the business permit for it.
Forming a company in Luxembourg for a family with significant wealth is a project, not a form. I run it under business permit 10077275 / 3 (auxiliary commercial services, including formation project management and corporate secretarial), with accounting under permit 10077275 / 0 and workspace substance under permit 10077275 / 4. The notary signs the deed, the avocat drafts the agreements, the tax adviser gives the opinion, the bank opens the account. I hold the critical path between them.
- Activity
- Formation project management and corporate secretarial, business permit 10077275 / 3, issued 25/03/2025 by the Ministry of the Economy
- Legal basis
- Amended law of 2 September 2011 on the business permit (autorisation d'établissement); amended law of 10 August 1915 on commercial companies
- Vehicles
- SARL (minimum capital EUR 12,000) or SA (minimum capital EUR 30,000) as private holding or SOPARFI; SPF under the amended law of 11 May 2007
- Registrations
- Notarial deed, RCS registration, beneficial owners filed in the RBE under the law of 13 January 2019
- Substance
- A resident manager who directs the company in a real, effective and permanent way, a workspace with genuine occupancy, decisions documented in Luxembourg
- Outside the perimeter
- No investment advice, no portfolio management, no family-office services (law of 21 December 2012), no domiciliation (law of 31 May 1999)
- Firm
- Engagements are contracted through Financial Services Luxembourg, RCS B213987, established 2017
- Public reference
- Business permit No. 10077275, nine activities, verifiable on Guichet.lu
- Last verified
- 8 October 2026
Which business permits this service relies on. The Luxembourg business permit (autorisation d'établissement, Niederlassungsgenehmigung) is the authorisation required under the amended law of 2 September 2011 to carry out a commercial, craft or liberal activity. It is granted by the Ministry of the Economy to a named person who must direct the business in a real, effective and permanent way. This service relies on the following activities, listed in the public register:
- 10077275 / 3 — Auxiliary commercial activities and services (issued 25/03/2025)
- 10077275 / 0 — Accountant (comptable) (issued 25/03/2025)
- 10077275 / 4 — Shared workspace and offices with auxiliary services (issued 16/04/2025)
Company formation as a project with a critical path
A wealthy family that forms a company in Luxembourg rarely has a problem with the incorporation itself. The problem is everything around it: a vehicle chosen before the tax adviser has seen the asset list, a capital circuit that does not match the deed, an RBE filing that contradicts the bank's KYC file, an address that cannot survive an account-opening interview, a manager who lives elsewhere. Each is cheap to fix before the deed and expensive after it. The service is to hold the sequence.
What is held, who holds it, how it is exited, where decisions are taken. Written down and taken to the notary and the tax adviser before any draft exists. SOPARFI, private holding or SPF is a conclusion, not a starting point.
Memo · notary · tax adviserArticles of a SARL or SA are a notarial deed. The capital is paid into a blocked account, the bank certifies it, the notary signs, the capital is released. Each step is dated and the dates have to agree.
Notary · blocking certificateRegistration with the Registre de commerce et des sociétés, beneficial owners filed in the RBE under the law of 13 January 2019, tax and, where relevant, VAT registration. The RBE filing must match the shareholder register and the bank's KYC file to the person.
LBR · RBE · ACDBank onboarding file assembled in parallel, not after. Workspace with real occupancy, a resident manager, a first board meeting minuted in Luxembourg. Where the family also forms an operating company, its business permit application is filed for the person who will direct it.
KYC file · workspace · permitThe deliverable is a written formation calendar with the owner of each step, the document it produces and the party that signs it. The family sees one project. Each professional sees a bounded part.
Who does what: permit holder, notary, avocat, tax adviser, bank
A Luxembourg formation for a family with significant assets involves four or five regulated professions. The usual failure is not incompetence. It is that nobody owns the handovers.
- Permit holder (me, business permits 10077275 / 3, / 0 and / 4). Formation project management, capital circuit, RCS and RBE filings, registers, minutes, corporate calendar, bank onboarding file, accounting once the company exists, workspace with auxiliary services, and where agreed a resident manager mandate under a separate engagement letter.
- Notary. Articles of incorporation of a SARL or SA, capital increases, contributions in kind, amendments. The deed is the notary's act; I prepare the file so it is signed once.
- Avocat. Shareholders' agreement, family charter, loan and guarantee agreements, legal opinions. Governance clauses for a family holding are drafted by a lawyer registered at the bar, not by me.
- Tax adviser. The opinion on the vehicle, on article 166 L.I.R. for a SOPARFI, on the SPF regime, on the family's residence and treaty access. I coordinate the tax return; the binding opinion is theirs.
- Bank. The account is the bank's decision. I do not promise an account. I deliver a file that answers the bank's questions in the order it asks them, with the evidence attached.
Three things stay outside everyone on this list unless a licensed professional is engaged: investment advice and portfolio management, which are regulated financial-sector activities; family-office services within the meaning of the law of 21 December 2012; and domiciliation, reserved by the law of 31 May 1999. I do none of the three.
Governance for a family holding: what the vehicle must be able to prove
For a HNWI or UHNWI family, the Luxembourg vehicle is examined more often after formation than before it. A bank reviews it at each KYC refresh. A foreign tax administration asks where it is managed. A second-generation shareholder asks what was decided and why. The governance is built so the answers already exist on paper.
A private holding or SOPARFI holds participations and finances them. It is taxed as an ordinary company and may use the participation exemption of article 166 L.I.R. when the conditions are met: a holding of at least 10% or an acquisition price of at least EUR 1.2 million for dividends, EUR 6 million for capital gains, held for twelve months. It needs a board that meets in Luxembourg, a resident manager who is present, a shareholder register reconciled with the RBE, and an intragroup financing file an auditor can follow.
An SPF under the amended law of 11 May 2007 is reserved to individuals managing their private wealth. It may not carry a commercial activity and may not hold real estate directly. It pays a subscription tax of 0.25%, with a floor of EUR 1,000 and a cap of EUR 125,000 a year. Its governance is a perimeter watch: every asset and transaction is checked against the prohibitions before it happens, because loss of status is a governance failure before it is a tax cost. The SPF page covers the regime.
In both cases the family receives a decision log, a 12-month corporate calendar with named owners, a substance file that can be produced on request, and annual accounts filed on time. The structuring page covers the choice between vehicles; this page covers getting the chosen one built, banked and run.
Three typical situations
Private holding or SOPARFI formation
- Vehicle memo for the notary and the tax adviser
- Notarial deed, capital circuit, RCS and RBE filings
- Bank onboarding file assembled in parallel
- First board meeting, registers, corporate calendar
SPF formation for a family
- Eligibility check against the law of 11 May 2007
- Articles, RCS, RBE, subscription-tax registration
- Perimeter watch: no commercial activity, no direct real estate
- Annual accounts and subscription-tax calendar
Operating company with its business permit
- Business permit application for the person who will direct it
- Incorporation, registrations, VAT where relevant
- Workspace with genuine occupancy and substance file
- Resident manager mandate where the family has no one in Luxembourg
A bank onboarding a family holding reads three documents against each other: the deed, the RBE extract and its own KYC form. If beneficial owners, percentages and addresses do not agree to the letter, the file goes to the back of the queue. The formation calendar exists to make those three documents identical before any of them is filed.
What my business permit covers, and what stays outside
What I do not accept
- A vehicle whose beneficial owners cannot be documented to a normal anti-money-laundering standard, or whose source of wealth cannot be explained.
- A structure whose only justification is the absence of tax, with no economic function and no intention of being managed from Luxembourg.
- A manager mandate in a company from which only a signature is expected, with decisions taken elsewhere.
- A request to advise on, select or manage the assets the vehicle will hold. That is for the family's licensed advisers.
- A fee quoted before the asset list, the shareholder map and the manager's file have been read.
Start with the NDA
Search intents covered by this page
Business permit certificates to download (PDF)
Each certificate is the official business permit issued by the Ministry of the Economy, with its QR code. Scan the QR code with the GouvCheck app, which checks the authenticity and currency of the document.
The business permit is personal and revocable. Public verification: official Guichet.lu register.
Evidence and verification
Every statement on this page that can be verified independently is listed below with its source. Items that cannot yet be verified are flagged and are not presented as facts.
This page follows the site's editorial policy: a statement is either sourced or flagged. Corrections follow the corrections policy. The content is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does a family holding in Luxembourg need a business permit?
SOPARFI, private holding or SPF: which one for a HNWI family?
How long does company formation in Luxembourg take?
Can you open the bank account for us?
What does a resident manager do, and what does he not do?
Is this a family office?
Who signs the engagement, and when are fees quoted?
Read next
Send the asset list and the shareholder map.
One message describing what the vehicle will hold and who will hold it is enough for a first answer on vehicle, calendar and perimeter, under NDA. Fees are quoted after the file has been read, never before.
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