Сompany registration in Belarus

Belarus is an independent country that is located in Eastern Europe. Registering a business in Belarus does not take much time and requires following a pretty straightforward and simple procedure.

You can set up a company in Belarus as:

• LLC;
• JSC;
• RO.

Registration requirements

To open an LLC in Belarus, one must have at least one founder and one shareholder. Share capital should not be less than 1 €. The founder of a Belarusian international company can also create a private unitary enterprise in Belarus.

Please note that:

• a fee of €36 is charged for opening a Belarusian company;
• to set up a public joint-stock company in Belarus one has to have a share capital of €3,900;
• to open a closed joint-stock company in Belarus one has to contribute a share capital in the amount of €900;
• a Belarusian joint-stock company must have no less than 2 shareholders.

At the moment, companies with foreign investment can defer payment of 50% of their initial share capital for 2 years.*

* This does not apply to open joint stock companies with foreign investments, which must have the required share capital before they are allowed to apply for registration in Belarus.

Registration procedure

To register a Belarusian company, you need to:

• choose a name for your company;
• pay a registration fee;
• submit the required documents to state registration authorities;
• have your company's seal made;
• open a corporate account with a Belarusian bank.

Need qualified advice on setting up a company in Belarus? Please consider contacting YB Case.

Taxation

• Corporate tax rate is 18%, which means that Belarus is ranked 58th in world rankings;
• Corporate income tax rate for bank institutions and insurance companies is 25%;
• WHT on interest is 10%, WHT on dividends is 12%, WHT on royalties is 15%.

Other requirements:

• Beneficiaries must provide copies of their passports and their certified translation into Russian or Belarusian (for non-residents);
• One of the owners must be registered in the state register.

Preparation of documents

If you are interested in setting up a Belarusian company, you should provide with the following documents:

• an application;
• Articles of Association (2 copies);
• e-version of the Articles of Association (on a CD);
• confirmation of payment of a state duty.

Registration takes only 1 day.