To open a company in Latvia, firstly you will need to choose the organizational and legal form. The most popular and widespread are limited liability companies (LLC or SIA, which stand for Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību)
A legal entity or an individual can act as the founder of a SIA. When a SIA company is formed the share capital must be paid up, which is divided into shares. Shareholders of a limited liability company are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the company only within the value of their shares.
Stages of company registration in Latvia:
1) Select the name of the company. The firm name of a limited liability company must contain the name of the company and the words ” Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību “. The SIA name must not coincide with the name of any entity who has already been registered or has applied for registration in the Commercial Register of Latvia, and also must not violate the rights to trademarks valid in the territory of Latvia.
2) Indicate the legal address. There are three ways to get a legal address for a company:
a. to rent or own a non-residential premises (office);
b. to conclude an agreement for the provision of a legal address;
c. to register an LLC at the home address of the head or founder
3) Determine the types of activities in accordance with the NACE classification
4) Deposit the share capital (2,800 euros in the case of an ordinary LLC and 1 euro in the case of an LLC with reduced capital). To deposit the authorized capital you need to have a temporary account opened with Latvian bank;
5) Pay the state fee;
6) Indicate the true beneficiary. Beneficiaries are individuals who directly or indirectly own or control more than 25% of the shares in SIA. The beneficiaries and details of how they control the SIA must be disclosed and recorded.
SIA is considered registered as a taxpayer simultaneously with the registration of the company in the Commercial Register of Latvia. An application for a value added tax payer number (VAT number) can be submitted simultaneously with the filing of an application for company registration in Latvia.
Additional Information
For more information, please contact partner of NJORD Riga office, attorney-at-law Dmitri Kolesnikov (sp@njordlaw.lv), tel. +37167313315, @ company registration in Latvia
NJORD is a Latvian law firm (advokātu birojs) with offices in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We have more than 200 employees of which about half are lawyers. We are a full service business law firm with particular focus on litigation, intellectual property, corporate and commercial, immigration and criminal law (white collar crimes). Please visit us at www.njordlaw.com