The figure of the limited liability entrepreneur is interesting as an intermediate step when starting a business and before incurring the costs of setting up a company. In fact, as a natural person, whoever carries out an economic activity is liable with all his present and future assets; however, if he registers as an ERL in the Commercial Register, he can designate some assets to be excluded from this liability (up to a value limit).

Until now you could only exclude your home if its value was less than 300,000 euros (450,000 in some towns). However, other assets can be designated:

Provided that they are capital goods used for the holding, as well as those that replace them.
If they are duly identified in the Register of Movable Property.
However, the exclusion of liability for these assets is limited to the aggregate turnover of the last two financial years (prior to the claim of the debt). However, although the law does not specify at what time these assets should be valued (at the time of registration or when liability is being claimed), it can be understood that the value will be taken as the value at the time of registration of the asset.

For example, you set up an electrical appliance repair business and designate a van valued at EUR 30,000, an electrical appliance repair machine valued at EUR 10,000 and a computer valued at EUR 1,500 as assets assigned to the business. As soon as he acquires them, he registers them all for the purchase value, i.e. a total of 41,500 euros. If in 5 years’ time (in 2027) you have debts, in order to avoid the seizure of these assets you would have to take as a reference the turnover of the financial years 2026 and 2025. If it is more than 41,500 euros, none of these assets would be seized, but if it is less – for example, 40,000 euros – the excess could be seized.

Our advisors will advise you on the steps you need to take to register as an ERL and how to designate assets that are excluded from liability for business debts.