In order to incorporate a company, first and foremost you should pick its legal form. The most broadly used are LLC or SIA, which stands for Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību)
Both a company and private person can act as founders of a SIA. At the point when a SIA is incorporated the stator capital should be paid up in full. Shareholders of a LLC are not responsible for its debts of the company being liable only within the value of their shares.
Phases of company registration in Latvia:
1) Choose the name. The name of a SIA should not concur with the name of any company previously incorporated or applied for such incorporation in the Commercial Register of Latvia, and furthermore should not abuse the rights to brand names that are in force in Latvia.
2) Choose the legal address. It is possible to obtain legal address in the following ways:
- to lease an office;
- to enter into agreement with a landlord where the landlord agrees to provide legal address;
- to have legal address at a home address;
3) Choose the list of activities as per the NACE classification
4) Choose the Board of a company. A SIA is managed by the board which should have at least one member. There are no restrictions as to the residence of the member of the board.
5) Deposit the share capital (2,800 euros for a ‘normal’ SIA and 1 euro for a SIA with decreased capital). In order to do that a temporary account with Latvia bank must be opened;
6) Pay the state fees;
7) Disclose the true beneficiary (beneficiaries) – private persons that own or control over 25% of the shares of the company. It will be needed to show how the control of the beneficiaries over the chares of the company is exercised.
Company registration in Latvia means also simultaneous registration with State revenue service (Valsts ieņēmumu dienests of VID). An application for (VAT number) can be filing along with filing of the incorporation documents required for company registration in Latvia.
The company registration in Latvia takes 4 business days. The registration time can be reduced up to two business days upon payment of an additional fee.