Closing a company / Question 4
What do creditors and buyers see in the register?
Intelligence, not legal advice. Screening is a starting point, not a clearance opinion.
Every step. The commercial register is public and free to consult online, its entries are published in the SHAB, and changes stay traceable in order. A company that closes shows the dissolution and “in Liquidation” in its name, a bankruptcy if there is one, and finally the deletion with its reason.
01 / A public register
Open, and in order.
The commercial register is public: its entries, articles of association and foundation deeds are available free of charge online, and changes must remain traceable in order. (OR Art. 936)
Entries are published in the SHAB and take effect on publication; once a fact is entered, nobody can claim not to have known it. (OR Arts. 936a and 936b)
Check a name ↑02 / Each step
From dissolution to deletion.
When an AG is dissolved to be liquidated, the register enters the dissolution, the name with “in Liquidation” and the liquidators. (HRegV Art. 63) The deletion is entered with its reason. (HRegV Art. 65)
In a bankruptcy, the register enters the opening, the name with “in Liquidation”, any suspension for lack of assets and the close of the proceedings. (HRegV Arts. 158 and 159)
Check a name ↑03 / After the end
The number is never reused.
The business identification number (UID) of a deleted company is never given to another; it comes back only if the same company is entered again. (HRegV Art. 116(3)) A court can order that, for example where assets were not realised. (OR Art. 935)
Trademarks are in a register of their own, kept by the IPI. (IPI, Starting a company) The commercial register does not show them.
Check a name ↑04 / In Antevo
Read the other register too.
The commercial register shows the company; the trademark registers show its names. The free check screens a name across 50+ of them and lists the marks near it, with office, status and the holder where it is a company. No account needed; the answer appears on this page.
Check a name ↑Sources
Where this comes from.
The counts behind the figures, the Federal Statistical Office’s bankruptcy figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal or tax advice, and your lawyer, notary or fiduciary confirms what a closure requires.