How to open a company if you are a foreigner

Any foreigner is entitled to establish a company in Russia. A residence permit or a temporary residence permit in the country is not required for this, and the procedure is completely identical to the registration of the enterprise by a citizen of the Russian Federation. The set of documents differs only in that the original passport is not enough for a foreigner: it requires notarized translation.

You will need

• - notarized translation of a passport;

• - a set of constituent documents of the future company (a statement of the established form; constituent agreement or a single decision, if there is one founder; constituent agreement, if there are 2 or more founders; Charter; confirmation of legal address; receipts on payment of state duties);

• - notarial services;

• - services of a lawyer or consultant (optional);

• - Translation services if the founder does not speak Russian;

• - power of attorney for the one who will apply for registration and receive certificates of registration of the company and assignment of TIN to it;

• - money for payment of state fees and services of a notary public, lawyers, consultants, translators.

Instruction manual

1

Contact the translation agency to have your passport translated into Russian with notarization of the translator’s signature. A tax inspectorate will not accept a transfer without notarization. The translation must be certified by a Russian notary.

2

Check with the tax office where you intend to file the documents if the transfer is certified by the consulate of the country of which you are a citizen of the Russian Federation, if you prefer to use its services. However, keep in mind that consular services are usually more expensive than translation agencies. And in most Russian cities there are simply no foreign consular offices, the exception is Moscow and, in the case of a number of countries, St. Petersburg, as well as a number of large regional centers.

3

Use the services of an interpreter at all stages of the procedure - from preparing documents to submitting them to the tax, if you do not speak Russian well enough. Registration of a company in any country is a very serious procedure, so it is important that you understand every word in the constituent documents.

4

Ask for help from lawyers if you are not well versed in the legislation of a foreign country. The offer of services to assist in the registration of companies on the Russian market is great, and for an acceptable fee, specialists will not only prepare a set of necessary documents, but will also hand them over to the tax inspectorate by a power of attorney and receive a package of documents that is issued after successful registration of the company.

5

If you are well versed in Russian laws, prepare a package of necessary documents yourself. Show the prepared documents to a lawyer or consultant from the Enterprise Support Center. The latter are in every regional center.

6

Take a tax receipt, if you submit the documents yourself, a receipt on their acceptance. You will exchange it in due time for papers confirming the registration of the company or a written refusal thereof, if something is wrong in the submitted documents.

7

Receive a package of documents on registration of the company (certificate of state registration and assignment of TIN) five working days after the independent submission of documents. If they are filed for you by a third party, the necessary papers must be ready at the same time. From that moment, you formally become a full-fledged Russian businessman.

note

Try not to resort to the fake legal address service popular in Russia. It is illegal. If you have a temporary residence permit or residence permit, you can register the company at your home address, but not in all regions. Is it possible in the area where your home is located, check with the tax office. Having your own commercial real estate will make life easier. In extreme cases, rent a room where your company will operate.