Representative offices of foreign companies
The main purpose of any enterprise is to make a profit, therefore, each founder of the company expects constant financial growth. Since the domestic market is often not enough for this, many entrepreneurs decide to enter the international market. Therefore, there is a need to register a foreign representative office or branch of such a company.
A foreign representative office is a subdivision of a foreign company that represents its interests. The purpose of a foreign representative office is to ensure the operation of companies with foreign investments, therefore, in fact, it cannot conduct independent business activities and is not a business entity.
Opening a representative office of a foreign company in Ukraine can give your business the following benefits:
- the opportunity of developing the company in a new, less competitive market;
- representative offices can import the necessary goods and equipment without paying duties;
- there is also the opportunity of getting a job in the representative office of their foreign employees without issuing work permits (for such employees, service cards are issued to work in the representative office);
- absence of the branch funds taxation when they are transferred from the main company.
What documents are required
If the non-resident founder is a legal entity, then the following documents are required to register a representative office:
- a copy of the passport and a copy of the card with the taxpayer’s identification number of the LLC director and the chief accountant;
- a notarized copy of the Articles of association of a legal entity – non-resident;
- a copy of the registration document certified by a notary;
- a copy of the document, certified by a notary, confirming the official’s powers;
- a notarized power of attorney for the right to sign all the statutory documents of the company and conduct other operations to register an LLC for a non-resident;
- a document certifying the location of a legal entity – non-resident.
Registration procedure
Documents for registration of a representative office are submitted directly to the Ministry of Justice. Documents must be notarized at the place of their issue, duly legalized in consular offices representing the interests of Ukraine, unless otherwise provided by international treaties of Ukraine, and accompanied by a translation into Ukrainian, which is certified by the seal of an official translator. Next, you need to pay the administrative fee to the specified details of the State Treasury, after which the documents are registered with the Ministry of Justice.
After registration of documents in the Ministry, the information contained in the submitted documents is verified, in particular, the existence of a foreign company in the country, the location of the officially registered main management body of a foreign business entity. In the absence of remarks, a Registration Certificate of the representative office is issued.
After the issuance of the Registration Certificate of the representative office, the registration data is entered in the Register of Representative Offices maintained by the Ministry of Justice.