Life Coaching (Lebens- und Sozialberatung)
Key Facts
- Type: Regulated trade
- Qualification: Diploma course (min. 5 semesters, ~750 hours) OR exam
- Cost: Free registration, exam fees covered
- Online consulting: Yes, possible via video call
- NOT psychotherapy! LSB is a trade, not a health profession
- LSB (§94 Z.46 GewO) = regulated trade. May counsel, NOT treat.
- Psychotherapy = health profession (Psychotherapiegesetz). May diagnose and treat.
- If you suspect a client has a mental health condition, you MUST refer to a psychologist/psychiatrist/psychotherapist.
What You Can Do as LSB
The scope is not a matter of interpretation — it is written out in § 119 (1) GewO, the scope provision for this trade: counselling and support of people, in particular in connection with personality, marital and family, parenting, career and sexual problems.
- Life counseling and personal development
- Relationship counseling
- Career counseling and work-life balance
- Stress management and burnout prevention
- Psychological counselling — named explicitly in § 119 (1), with the exception of psychotherapy
Nutritional counselling — if you have completed the degree programme in nutritional science at an Austrian university, or the training as a dietitian (Diätassistent/in).
Sports-science counselling — if you have completed sports science or physical education at an Austrian university, or hold a diploma from a coaching programme at a federal sports academy (Sportakademie des Bundes).
What You CANNOT Do
- Psychotherapy — the one exception § 119 (1) carves out of psychological counselling
- Diagnose mental health conditions
- Treat psychological disorders
- Prescribe or recommend medication
- Call yourself a psychotherapist or psychologist
Qualification: how to prove it
Lebens- und Sozialberatung is a regulated trade under §94 Z.46 of the Austrian Trade Act (GewO 1994). The standard route is the qualification exam (befähigungsprüfung).
- Examined by: Meisterprüfungsstelle WK
- Exam fee: €0 — exam fees are covered by the federal government
If you cannot sit the exam, these routes are open to you:
- Diplomlehrgang Lebens- und Sozialberatung (5+ Semester, ~750 Stunden)
- Individuelle Befähigung bei verwandter Ausbildung + Praxis
- Gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer
Registering the trade
- Cost: Free — registration itself carries no fee
- Where: District administrative authority (Bezirksverwaltungsbehörde)
- Decision within: max. 3 months
- Typically takes: 1-5 Werktage (bei vollständigen Unterlagen)
- Start trading: immediately on registration — you do not have to wait for the decision
You can register in these ways:
- Online via GISA (the trade register)
- Online via USP (the business service portal)
- In person at the authority
Who may register
- Minimum age: 18
- Citizenship or residence: Austria, EU, EEA or Switzerland
- Clean record: no disqualifying convictions (checked by the authority)
Documents to bring
- Photo ID
- Diplomlehrgangs-Zeugnis oder Befähigungsnachweis
- Criminal record certificate
Terms shown in German are the ones printed on the Austrian forms — you will meet them exactly like this at the authority.
Where to go, by province
| Province | Competent authority |
|---|---|
| Lower Austria | Bezirkshauptmannschaft |
| Upper Austria | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Linz/Wels/Steyr |
| Styria | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Graz |
| Tyrol | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Innsbruck |
| Salzburg | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Salzburg |
| Carinthia | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Klagenfurt/Villach |
| Burgenland | Bezirkshauptmannschaft |
| Vorarlberg | Bezirkshauptmannschaft / Magistrat Bregenz |
Sole trader, GmbH, or partnership?
Trade law does not prescribe a legal form — but it does draw one line. Under § 9 (1) GewO, legal entities and registered partnerships (GmbH, OG, KG) may hold a trade licence, but they „must have appointed a managing director (§ 39)“ — a named person who carries the qualification and the legal responsibility for the trade. As a sole trader you are that person yourself.
Whether a GmbH pays off financially depends on profit, drawings, SVS contributions and allowances. There is no general profit threshold, and that question belongs to a tax adviser, not to this page.
Running this trade alongside a job
Nothing in Austrian law forbids running a trade as a side business. Two things about social insurance are regularly misremembered, and both cost money.
- The obligation follows Chamber membership, not profit. Under § 2 (1) 1 GSVG compulsory SVS insurance attaches to membership of the Economic Chamber, which you acquire with the trade licence itself. It therefore applies in a year in which you make no profit at all.
- There is an exemption — but only on application. § 4 (1) 7 GSVG lets very small businesses be exempted while turnover and income stay under the limits it refers to. Nothing happens automatically: without the application, the obligation stands.
If you are employed, check your employment contract separately for a secondary-activity clause — that is a matter between you and your employer, not trade law.
Legal basis: GewO 1994 §94 Z.46 . Last reviewed April 2026. This is not legal advice.
Rule-change alerts
Austrian trade rules change through amendments, new regulations and new thresholds. Every day we check the Federal Law Gazette for changes to the Trade Act and its regulations. When one affects this trade, you get an email: what changes, from when, and where it is written. Otherwise we do not write.
First you get one email to confirm. No advertising, no tracking.