Company formation in the Republic of Belarus

Company formation in the Republic of Belarus /in /by

Procedure of company registration in Belarus is regulated by the only 1 document – Decree № 1 (hereinafter – the Decree) of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated January 1, 2009. This document describes the whole procedure of company registration and establishment of company on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

The Decree provides the following types of legal entities that can be incorporated in Belarus:

1) Closed Joint Stock Company;

2) Unitary Enterprise;

3) Opened Joint Stock Company;

4) Limited Liability Company;

5) Additional Liability Company.

Our lawyers can assist you in incorporation of any type of company that is mentioned above. In our practice the most popular forms of the companies in Belarus are:

1) Limited Liability Company;

2) Closed Joint Stock Company;

3) Unitary Enterprise.

In our opinion from January 26, 2016 the situation will change and Unitary Enterprise will not be popular company for registration in Belarus. The reason is that from January 26, 2016 Limited Liability Company can consist of 1 shareholder (before it should be minimum 2 shareholders that was the reason why Unitary Enterprise was popular).

The based document of each incorporating company is charter of the company. Our lawyers will help to develop and write the charter in the way that Client wants – it can help to protect the rights of minority shareholder, to put limits of the powers of director, to protect the company from the third party.

In practice to open a company in Belarus it usually takes 2-3 days. Usually all these days lawyers collect and prepare all necessary papers for company incorporation, develop the provisions of the charter together with the client, organize the translation and notarization of passports, power of attorneys and other papers. When all the papers are ready all the shareholders should go together with the lawyers to the registration office. Before this they have to pay the state fee for company incorporation – in Belarus the state fee for opening of company is about 30 USD. Registration office will check the papers, will check all passport and other necessary papers and put the registration stamp on the charter. So the process of company registration in the registration office will take 20 minutes. The company is considered as registered at the day of applying with the all necessary papers.

After the registration of company the representative of the company can order a seal of the company. Usually the seal can be made within 1 working day. When the seal is made the head of the company can go to the bank and open a bank account. Usually opening of the bank account takes 1 day.

If the head of the company will be a foreign citizen in this case it is obligatory to get a special permit for work in Belarus. Without a special permission for work foreigner doesn’t have the right to works in Belarus. Usually in practice it takes about 25-30 days to get this special work permit.

To summarize everything descripted above we can declare that the usual process of company formation in Belarus normally takes 2-4 days. After this you will have all the company papers, seal and bank account that will be enough to start business.

For the questions regarding company formation and other corporate law issue you can contact us. All the contact information you can find in the section «Contacts».

Belarus introduced the visa-free regime for a number of the countries /in /by

On 9 January 2017 President of Belarus signed a Decree No. 8 “On establishing a visa-free order of entrance and departure of foreign citizens”. According to the current decree, citizens of some countries are given the right to obtain visa-free entry for a period not exceeding 5 days. These are 80 countries, including Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Order of Malta, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vatican, Vietnam.

Therefore, citizens of the above mentioned countries are expected to be the holders of a valid passport (any other document permitting foreign travels), 46 belarusian rubles for each day of stay, as well as medical insurance at least €10,000 in order to enter Belarus. The citizens of China, Gambia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Lebanon, Namibia, Samoa, Vietnam must be in possession of a valid multiple entry visa for the countries of a European Union or Schengen area with an entry stamp, a valid air ticket with a confirmation of the departure from Minsk National Airport within 5 days from the date of entry.

The decree does not apply to passengers, arriving in Belarus from Russian airports, as well as intending to travel to Russia.

Belarus and Hong Kong signed an agreement on double taxation avoidance /in /by

Belarus and Hong Kong signed an agreement on avoidance of double taxation of income and property on January 16, 2017.

The agreement is aimed at determining the payment of income tax, profit tax, income tax from individuals and the real estate tax.

This agreement was concluded with a goal to allocate rights of taxation between the Republic of Belarus and Hong Kong and evade double taxation. Accordingly, at present, taxing of those incomes is arranged, which the resident staying or registered in one country gets in the other contracting country.

The agreement also secured the place of tax payment (Belarus or Hong Kong), as well as the order of elimination of double taxation.

Tax rates set in the agreement with Hong Kong decreased in comparison with the established by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus on the following forms:

Royalties – from 15 % up to 3 % (in case of granting use of aircraft) and up to 5 % (in other cases);

Dividends – with 12 % for organizations and 13 % for individuals up to 5 %;

Percentages – with 10 % for organizations and 13 % for individuals up to 5 %.

The agreement also changed the criterion in order to accept the construction site as well as construction, installation or assembly object or related oversight activities of the permanent mission. Prior to the entry into force of the agreement in accordance with Belarusian legislation such a construction site, an object, or activity recognizes the permanent mission if there are more than 180 days in any twelve-month period, but when agreement entries into force, the permanent mission on such sites would only arise if they exist for a period exceeding 12 months.

The agreement will enter into force from the date of receipt of the last notification of the parties to execute procedures required for its coming into force.