# Verification record — `de/handelsregister/gmbh-formation-musterprotokoll` v1.0.0 This file is the **source-review record** for this document version, per the [`manual-source-review-v1`](../../../../../practices/manual-source-review-v1.md) practice. ## Current claim - **`status`:** `draft` - **`verification.method`:** `manual-source-review-v1` - **`verification.lastVerifiedAt`:** `2026-07-04` The document was derived from and cross-checked against the primary legal sources below. The full field-by-field comparison the practice requires has been completed once against those sources (this record), but not yet by a second, independent reviewer — so `status` remains `draft`, not `verified`. ## Why this schema and why now (GOV-1136) GOV-1136 asked for a fresh catalog-and-gap-research cycle. Step 1 (catalog audit) found **137 published schemas** across 11 core jurisdictions (AU, CA, DE, FR, GB, IE, IN, NL, NZ, SG, US). Every specific gap the issue's own notes named — DE Tax ID (Steuer-Identifikationsnummer), SG NRIC loss/damage + re-registration, NZ RealMe, "remaining voter registration" — was **already published** in prior cycles (`de/finanzamt/tax-identification-number`, `sg/ica/identity-card-replacement`, `sg/ica/identity-card-reregistration`, `nz/dia/realme-verified-identity`, and a full voter-registration set spanning AU/CA/FR/GB/IE/IN/NL/NZ/US). Those notes were stale; see the comment on GOV-1136 for the full audit. Step 2 (fresh gap research) instead found a real, unaddressed gap in the **Business Formation** vertical named directly in the issue ("LLC, EIN, and Incorporation"): `de/gewerbeamt/business-registration`, `fr/inpi/micro-entrepreneur-activity-declaration`, `nl/kvk/sole-proprietorship-registration-eenmanszaak`, and `sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration` each cover only a **sole trader/micro-entrepreneur** registration — the simplest business form, with no separate legal personality. None of DE, FR, NL, or SG had a schema for forming a genuine **limited-liability company** (the direct analogue of `gb/companies-house/company-incorporation-in01`, `ie/cro/company-incorporation`, `ca/on/registration/business-incorporation`, `nz/companiesoffice/company-incorporation`, `in/mca/company-incorporation-spice-plus`, `us/ca/sos/business-entity-llc-formation`, and `au/asic/proprietary-company-registration`). Germany's GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) was chosen first among the four because Anlage 1 to § 2 Abs. 1a GmbHG annexes a **fixed-text model form (Musterprotokoll)** directly to the statute itself for the simplified single-founder case — an unusually tractable source: the form text is part of the primary legal source, not a policy description or a secondary summary. ## Sources examined - **Document `(id, version)`:** `de/handelsregister/gmbh-formation-musterprotokoll` / `1.0.0` - **Spec version:** GovSchema `0.3.0` - **Authority:** Notaries executing the Musterprotokoll under § 2 Abs. 1a GmbHG; the resulting deed is filed for entry in the Handelsregister (commercial register) maintained by the competent Amtsgericht (Registergericht). There is no single national "Companies House"-equivalent body in Germany — registration is decentralized across the Länder's register courts, joined by the shared `handelsregister.de` portal — the same decentralized-authority pattern already used by `de/gewerbeamt/business-registration` (Gewerbeamt/Ordnungsamt) in this registry. - **Primary legal sources** (each section fetched and quoted verbatim from `gesetze-im-internet.de`, the Bundesministerium der Justiz's official law portal): - — § 2 GmbHG: notarial form requirement; Musterprotokoll eligibility ("höchstens drei Gesellschafter und einen Geschäftsführer", no deviating provisions). - — § 5 GmbHG: EUR 25,000 minimum Stammkapital; whole-euro share denomination. - — § 5a GmbHG: the Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) variant — capital below the § 5 Abs. 1 floor, in-kind contributions excluded, capital paid in full before registration, mandatory quarter-of-net-income legal reserve, mandatory "UG (haftungsbeschränkt)"/"Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt)" naming suffix. - — § 7 Abs. 2/3 GmbHG: the quarter-per-share and half-of-minimum-capital payment rules before registration. - — § 8 GmbHG: what the Handelsregister application must attach and state (Gesellschaftsvertrag, Gesellschafterliste, managing directors' affirmations under § 8 Abs. 3, domestic business address and scope of representative authority under § 8 Abs. 4). - — the full GmbHG text, used for § 11 GmbHG (legal personality arises only on Handelsregister entry) and as the anchor `source.url`. - — § 10 BeurkG (Beurkundungsgesetz): the general notarial-identification standard used to source `founderDateOfBirth`/`founderResidentialAddress`/ `directorResidentialAddress`, which are not printed as separate blanks on the compact template but are standard notarial-practice fields under this general statutory identification duty. - **Primary form source:** the Bundesministerium's own start-up portal, `existenzgruendungsportal.de`, publishes a direct PDF reproduction of Anlage 1(a) GmbHG's Musterprotokoll text (`05-uebersicht_Einpersonengesellschaft.pdf`, dated December 2025). Downloaded directly (`curl`) and extracted in full with `pdfjs-dist` (2 pages: page 1 the template's 7 numbered clauses and all printed blanks; page 2 the notes/footnotes and the source citation to Anlage 1/2 GmbHG). Cross-checked against `dejure.org`'s consolidated `Anlage_1.html` rendering of the same statutory annex — both agree on every blank and footnote. - **Retrieved / reviewed:** 2026-07-04 (all sources fetched and read live at authoring time; no bot-block encountered on any of the above domains). - **Reviewer:** GovSchema Engineering (Standards Engineer, initial authoring source-review). ## What was confirmed against the source | Source element | Field(s) | |---|---| | § 5a GmbHG — capital below § 5 Abs. 1 minimum defines a UG | `companyType` | | Musterprotokoll §1 — "unter der Firma _____ mit dem Sitz in _____"; § 5a Abs. 1 naming suffix requirement | `companyName`, `registeredSeat` | | Musterprotokoll §2 — "Gegenstand des Unternehmens ist _____" | `businessPurpose` | | Musterprotokoll §3; § 5 Abs. 1, § 5a Abs. 1 GmbHG | `shareCapitalAmountEur` | | Musterprotokoll §3 + footnote 3; § 7 Abs. 2, § 5a Abs. 2 GmbHG | `capitalPaymentMode` | | Musterprotokoll §5 — fixed EUR 300 formation-cost cap | `incorporationCostsCapEur` | | Musterprotokoll preamble/§3 — founder name blank | `founderFullName` | | § 10 BeurkG — notarial identification standard | `founderDateOfBirth`, `founderResidentialAddress`, `directorResidentialAddress` | | Musterprotokoll footnote 2 — Güterstand/spousal-consent notation | `founderMaritalStatus`, `spousalConsentObtained`, `spousalConsentDocument` | | Musterprotokoll §4 — "Herr/Frau _____ geboren am _____ wohnhaft in _____" | `directorFullName`, `directorDateOfBirth` | | § 8 Abs. 4 GmbHG — scope of representative authority | `representationAuthority` | | § 181 BGB self-dealing restriction (standard Handelsregisteranmeldung practice) | `section181BgbExemptionGranted` | | § 8 Abs. 3 GmbHG — managing directors' affirmation re: § 6 Abs. 2 disqualifying grounds | `directorEligibilityAffirmationConfirmed` | | § 8 Abs. 2 GmbHG — affirmation that contributions are made and at free disposal | `capitalContributionAffirmationConfirmed` | | § 8 Abs. 4 GmbHG — "eine inländische Geschäftsanschrift" | `domesticBusinessAddressStreet/PostalCode/City` | | Musterprotokoll preamble — "erschien vor mir _____", "Notar/-in mit dem Amtssitz in _____" | `notaryName`, `notaryOfficialSeat` | | § 11 GmbHG; Musterprotokoll §6 — copy to the Registergericht | `registerCourtName` | | Musterprotokoll preamble — "Heute, den _____" | `declarationDate` | | § 10 BeurkG identification duty | `founderIdentityDocument`, `directorIdentityDocument` | | Musterprotokoll §6 — deed distribution | `notarizedMusterprotokoll` | ## Conformance test run Two scenarios exercise both `companyType` branches: - `conformance/de/handelsregister/gmbh-formation-musterprotokoll/1.0.0/application-packet-gmbh.json` — an unmarried founder forming a standard GmbH with the full EUR 25,000 minimum capital, paid in full immediately. - `.../application-packet-ug.json` — a married founder (community-of-accrued- gains regime) forming a UG (haftungsbeschränkt) with EUR 1,000 capital (below the GmbH floor, as § 5a permits), paid in full as § 5a Abs. 2 mandates, with `spousalConsentObtained = true` and the corresponding `spousalConsentDocument` provided. A scripted evaluator (reimplementing the GSP-0013 `requiredWhen` grammar — `conditionLeaf` operators plus `all`/`any`/`not` composition — against `fields[]` static `required`, `fieldRole: "eligibility"`/`eligibleValues`, and `documents[].requiredWhen`) checked both packets: **0 violations across 26 fields + 4 documents each**. A mutation test confirmed the conditional document requirement actually fires, not just that the happy path passes: removing `spousalConsentDocument` from the UG packet while `spousalConsentObtained` stays `true` correctly produced `VIOLATION: document 'spousalConsentDocument' is required but not provided`. Full console output is saved as `application-packet-gmbh.txt` and `application-packet-ug.txt` alongside the packets. ## What was NOT modeled, and why - **Multi-founder Musterprotokoll (up to three shareholders).** Anlage 1 GmbHG's compact template has a distinct multi-person variant; this document scopes to the single-founder case only, matching the single-director scope other jurisdictions' company-formation schemas in this registry already use. - **Video-communication notarization (Anlage 2, § 2 Abs. 3 GmbHG).** A 2022 reform lets the Musterprotokoll be executed via video call instead of an in-person notary appointment; the underlying data fields are materially the same, but the process/consent flow differs enough to warrant its own schema rather than an implicit variant of this one. - **Bespoke (non-template) Gesellschaftsvertrag.** Used for >3 shareholders, multiple managing directors, or non-standard terms; out of scope by design, same boundary `ie/cro/company-incorporation` draws around its bespoke constitution. - **In-kind (Sach-)contributions.** § 7 Abs. 3/§ 5a Abs. 2 GmbHG both treat these specially (and the UG variant excludes them outright); modeling them would require the separate Sachgründungsbericht, out of scope here. - **§ 1365 BGB's "substantially all assets" threshold for `spousalConsentObtained`.** The statute itself does not give a bright-line test; secondary practitioner guidance describes it as notary-determined case by case. Modeled as an optional field the agent surfaces to the founder rather than an enforced rule this document cannot itself evaluate — the same honesty-over-false- precision approach used for `ie/cro/company-incorporation`'s PPSN field and flagged in the `notequals-empty-string-absent-field-bug` lesson from a prior cycle. - **Post-formation Gewerbeanmeldung and Finanzamt tax registration.** Already covered by `de/gewerbeamt/business-registration` (trade office) and out of scope for the separate Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (tax office); this document stops at Handelsregister entry, the point at which the GmbH/UG itself comes into legal existence (§ 11 GmbHG). ## Next review `nextReviewBy`: 2027-01-04, or sooner if the GmbHG's Musterprotokoll annex, the § 5/§ 5a capital figures, or the § 8 registration particulars change.