F.A.Q. How to register a legal entity in Armenia 2022

What documents do foreigners need to register a business in the RA?

The procedure for registering a company in Armenia does not imply the personal presence of all the founders or the founder to submit documents to government agencies.

You can open a foreign currency account for legal entities. person of a non-resident. In this case, after providing all the necessary documents, the application will go through the compliance procedure and a decision will be made to open an account. All transactions through this legal entity will also be carefully checked. All transfers (including foreign exchange) to this account will be taxed in accordance with the RA tax law. A visa is not required to open such an account.

It seems more convenient to register a legal entity in Armenia, the procedure for opening accounts for local legal entities is simplified.

Register a limited liability company with the following documents:

• foreign passport of the founder of the company (if the owner is an individual); – legalized copies of corporate documents – the charter of the company,
• minutes of the meeting of shareholders with the decision to establish a legal entity in the Armenian jurisdiction;
• receipt of payment of state duty;
• the size of the authorized capital;
• data of participants (if the number of shareholders is more than one) with copies of passports, TIN or charters, if the founder is a legal entity (entities); legal address.

To conclude an employment contract with an employee, the employee must have a residence permit.

How to register a business in Armenia and how long does the registration process take?

Since 2011, a universal Business Entry Center has been operating in Armenia under the Ministry of Justice (49/3 Komitas Avenue, working hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00).

Companies and individuals can simultaneously receive name reservations, business registrations and tax identification numbers in one place. Electronic registration is also available at www.e-register.am, which requires an electronic signature. Registration of commercial organizations is carried out immediately when submitting documents in electronic form or using approved templates of required documents. In other cases, the process may take up to 2 business days.

In Armenia, there is a single office for civil transactions and services (options, real estate cadastre, register of legal entities, registry office) that is, as it were, a combination of several options in a single office. Address: Vazgen Sargsyan, 3

Details at the link https://www.moj.am/en/page/617

In Armenia, not only citizens of Armenia, but also foreigners can be founders, however, their passport data requires a translation, and in some cases also an apostille to declare the actual beneficiaries, if they are not in Armenia (passport translation + apostille). If they are in Armenia – only notarized translations of these documents.

The founders are the actual beneficiaries, that is, the recipients of the company’s profits, so their presence is not necessary if all the forms required for submission to the State Register are correctly filled out.

As for the director of a legal entity, he can also be a foreign citizen, the same conditions for the legalization of documents (both with personal participation and remotely, through a representative).

The director of the company can also be a foreign citizen, but in any case, it is necessary that he or she also be a citizen of Armenia (had an identification card, an internal passport, which at the same time contains a chip for an electronic signature)

Either the director must give a power of attorney to any other person, mainly the chief accountant (under a work contract or on the basis of a power of attorney as an outsource) so that this accountant can register all processes in the tax office using his ID card.

Also, a foreign citizen without a residence permit can become a director in a commercial company in Armenia

To do this, you need to open the social security number in your passport, since a foreign citizen is not a citizen of Armenia and identical information for citizens of Armenia is in ID cards, with a residence permit (with a resident card and with social security number) you can submit documents to Ekeng even online by e-mail, but still Ekeng must invite you and check your identification (foreign passport, residence card, social security number), that is, the physical presence of a foreigner is required.

For foreigners, a different electronic signature system is issued than for citizens of Armenia (more expensive, the system is different but through the authorization of the Ekeng system).

A foreign citizen can be a director in a company registered in Armenia and not have a residence card and social security number and at the same time entrust tax transactions to an accountant who has an ID card (which is cheaper).

Or the foreign director himself, having the above details, can sign.

How much is the authorized capital for companies?

There is no minimum threshold for authorized capital. You decide the authorized capital, maybe 1 dram, but this is also the price of your company. Mainly in Armenia

it is customary to open for 10,000 drams or 50,000 drams. This amount should also be visible in the tax, keep this in mind when registering.

Can foreigners open online accounts in Armenian banks?

The list of commercial banks in Armenia can be found here. Most banks have their own online banking system and mobile applications.

You can open a foreign currency account for legal entities. person of a non-resident. In this case, after providing all the necessary documents, the application will go through the compliance procedure and a decision will be made to open an account. All transactions through this legal entity will also be carefully checked. All transfers (including foreign exchange) to this account will be taxed in accordance with the RA tax law. A visa is not required to open such an account.

It seems more convenient to register a legal entity in Armenia, the procedure for opening accounts for local legal entities is simplified.