How to open company in the Republic of Belarus /in /by

Open company in Belarus: rules, steps and timeframes

Allford Morisson – for the Ukrainian business portal UBR.ua. According to «Doing business 2015» the Republic of Belarus ranked 57th. Despite difficulties which are connected with a transitional economy, setting up your own business in Belarus much easier than in many other European countries.

FORMS OF BUSINESS ENTITIES IN BELARUS

In accordance with Belarusian law there are more than 7 forms of business entities. The most popular are following:

  1. Unitary Enterprise (UE). The number of founders: 1 (person or legal entity). There is no minimum amount of the charter capital. Founder liability: the founder isn’t  liable for liabilities of UE.
  2. Limited Liability Company (LLC). The number of founders: from 2 to 50 (person or legal entity). The minimum size of the charter capital: not regulated. Founder liability: the founders aren’t  liable for liabilities of LLC.
  3. Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC). The number of founders: from 2 to 50 (person or legal entity). The minimum size of the charter capital: 18 million Belarussian rubles (about 1100 US dollars ).

 

Steps of setting up of a company in Belarus:

  1. Company name approval;
  2. Payment of state fees for company registration;
  3. Submission of documents for state registration to authorities;
  4. Producing seal for the company;
  5. Opening of a bank account.

 

  1. COMPANY NAME APPROVAL

One the founders can get the approval of the company name. There are 3 ways how to do this: to submit the application form to the state authorities; to do it by post; to do it online through the web-site of the authorities at www.egr.gov.by. Using this web-site the future founder can also check if the name for a new company is available. When you do that the state authorities will issue a certificate of name approval.

 

  1. PAYMENT OF STATE FEES FOR THE REGISTRATION OF A NEW COMPANY

State fees for the registration of a new company is 540 000 Belarussian rubles (approx. 36 US dollars).

 

  1. SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS FOR THE REGISTRATION OF THE COMPANY

All founders personally should come and submit the documents for the company formation to the state authorities. Founders should have the passport; non-residents of the Republic of Belarus should have certified translation of passport into Russian or Belarusian language. If the number of founders is more than 3, it is possible to authorize one of them to represent their interests in the state authorities.

Required documents for the company registration:

  1. Application;
  2. 2 copies of signed Charter;
  3. The electronic version of the charter on CD;
  4. Confirmation of the state duty payment.

In accordance with the law the registration of a new company takes only 1 day. After that the representative of the state registry during 5 working days should inform state authorities (Tax authorities, State insurance agency RUP Belgosstrakh, Social Security Fund) about that.

After the company stamp is made the founders can chose the bank and open a current bank account.

TAXATION IN BELARUS

There are two main types of tax systems in Belarus: General taxation system and Simplified taxation system. Depends on activity the company is obliged to pay some additional taxes: tax on gambling business, tax on income from lottery activity, ecological tax.

According to General taxation the following taxes should be paid:

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Corporate income tax

Real estate tax;

Land tax;

Ecological tax;

Tax on extraction of natural resources;

Off-shore duty and some other taxes.

Simplified tax system.

Currently business entities use the following popular variants of the simplified tax system:

1) tax at a rate of 5% from the turnover – for legal entities, which do not pay VAT.

2) tax at a rate of 3% – for legal entities, which pay VAT.

 

DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURING

Business entities established and carrying out activities for the production of goods (works, services) on the territory of Belarus in middle, small towns and in a countryside are subject to the special tax regime. They are exempt for 7 years from: profit tax; customs duties on buying the equipment for goods production. In addition in countryside there are a lot of unused buildings that belong to the state, which business entities can get at a low price. And finally in order to avoid double taxation the Republic of Belarus signed a big number of agreements with other states. These agreements are also made with the following countries: Cyprus, Great Britain, Netherlands, Qatar, UAE, USA.